Transformers: Robots in Disguise 2
by Overnight Sensation
Summary: A sequel to the series Car Robots/RiD. The Autobots thought they could rest easy after the defeat of Galvatron. Ten years later, a new Predacon emerges to disturb the Autobots' era of peace.
1. Ep1 The More Things Change

**Transformers: Robots in Disguise 2**

_Cybertron- It has been a planet of precious peace and productivity. The planet's native inhabitants, the Autobots are led by Optimus Prime, the ever heroic Autobot who leads his race by example and is regarded as all as the shining example of what any and every Autobot can become. _

_For centuries, an evil robotic race known as the Predacons tore through the cosmos like a destructive symphony tearing through the serenity of space. But finally, after countless years of fighting and struggle, Optimus Prime and the heroic Autobots were finally able to defeat their arch nemesis, Galvatron and his evil forces on a small planet known as Earth. _

_Following their defeat, Galvatron and his soldiers found themselves arrested and imprisoned inside the giant Autobot known as Fortress Maximus who, in his alternate mode as a giant battle station, left Earth and travelled the galaxy, back to Cybertron where the evil Predacons, and the Predacon platoon known as the Decepticon Commandos were brought to justice, and it was decided they would be incarcerated for their crimes against the universe. Galvatron and his evil warriors found themselves imprisoned on a gigantic asteroid that was turned into a galactic prison for the universe's most evil and dangerous criminals. _

_And so, the universe returned to a state of peace, but it was not to last. For while the evil Galvatron and his followers' evil symphony was silenced, a new orchestra was preparing a song of their own- a song that was sure to guarantee the end of peace in the universe…._

**_Episode 1- The More Things Change..._**

**Chapter 1**

From afar in space, the planet Cybertron resembled a shining pearl that was nestled in a dark silk sheet that was space. Quiet and distant from even the worlds closest to it, Cybertron sat still as the many powerful lights on the planet's surface cast a strong, bright glow. But, as the planet continued to sit quietly in space, if one was able to inspect the planet's surface from afar, they would have noticed a pinprick of light flash on the surface of the planet. After a moment's pause, the pinprick of light was followed by another flash, then another...and another.

But, while the flashes of light may have been pinpricks if viewed from off the planet's surface, then one would have been shocked to know that those same pinpricks of light were in fact large explosions that broke the sound barrier with aggressive sound, as the energy of the explosions sent a wave of intense heat across the planet's surface, forcing the inhabitants of that sector of Cybertron to scatter in a desperate bid to save their own lives. The sounds of destruction from the explosions were frightening; the whizzing sound and sight of laser blasts, both shots that were trained and errant caused heads to turn in terrified vigilance. Those who were only civilians and not trained for warfare would have had a life cycle expectancy of mere minutes, if that.

Fortunately though, the robots in the offhanded battle zone weren't of the civilian kind, and were instead members of the Autobots army. Those members of the Autobots' military, well versed in combat and had hundreds to thousands of years of armed service running through their circuits were once again defending Cybertron -more specifically, Cybertron's capital known as Auto-City- from a dangerous enemy. Looking from a trench that was fenced with a row of scrap metal and wreckage, the Autobot known as X-Brawn looked on to watch a group of Predacons slowly pressing their advantage as they made their way towards the Autobots' position on the other side of the large open courtyard before Auto-City's Capitol, which was known as Iacon. Laser fire from the Predacons continued to stream violently around X-Brawn and the other Autobots in a rainbow of beautiful yet deadly colours, which forced X-Brawn to duck down into the trench for safe cover to weather the laser storm that the Autobots' enemies had presented him. Then, picking his moment, X-Brawn raised himself up out of the top of the trench before he fired his silver laser rifle, which he affectionately called his bronco blaster, from left to right in a rapid fire motion. He watched as one by one, each Predacon that was in his line of sight quickly dropped to the metallic street with explosions emanating from the front of their torsos, but before X-Brawn could admire his well placed shots, he groaned in desperation as another line of fresh Predacons ran and leaped over their fallen comrades as they continued on their way to storm Iacon tower.

"These varmints are tougher than week ol' asteroid steak." X-Brawn muttered before he ducked another Predacon shot.

"I don't get why we're just staying here like sitting ducks," the blue Autobot to X-Brawn's left, Side Burn then spoke. "If we went super mode on these guys, you and I could clear this front line and send the rest of the Preds retreating!"

"We can't do that," X-Brawn answered. "Our energon levels won't sustain our super modes for long. 'Sides, we made a pact we wouldn't. Remember, little brother?"

"That was a dumb pact from the start." Side Burn grumbled.

"Either way, I'm the boss hog of this corral, partner." X-Brawn reminded his Autobot sibling.

"Huh. Then how about leading us forward instead of keeping us sat down?"

Despite the brash tone from Side Burn, X-Brawn couldn't help but reflect on how Side Burn may have been right. Currently, he was the leader of the squad of Autobots who had been charged with defending Iacon and driving the Predacons away, but he had done little to actually complete his mission. When X-Brawn and Side Burn had become separated from other members of his unit, he had led the remaining members of his squad, who had included himself and Side Burn back to near the front of the Iacon tower, to a trench that had been made with some quick thinking and rapid firepower. Since then, the Autobots had simply held their position to keep the Predacons from advancing any further, but as was becoming evident with every passing moment, X-Brawn's plan was slowly failing, for the Predacons were now beginning to advance with every wave that kept replacing the last, inch by precious inch. It was then that X-Brawn realized it was time for his small force to step up their game. Once again lowering himself down into the trench, away from the constant Predacon attack, X-Brawn looked to his right to see three white Autobots who stood towering over himself and Side Burn.

"Boys, this is getting serious." X-Brawn began. "You got enough juice left to bring it together and form Rail Racer?"

"Form Rail Racer?" The white blue and golden Autobot echoed. "Oh, I fear such an exploit would now deplete our remaining energon."

"It's either that, or we become scrap where we stand, Midnight Express." The oldest of the three large Autobots, named Railspike replied upon Midnight Express' well spoken claim. "You've got it, X-Brawn."

"Let's do it, boys!" The final Autobot giant, Rapid Run then agreed. "Form Rail Racer!"

"_Bullet fusion mode!"_

Together, the trio of giant Autobots lowered their weapons as they prepared to change their form. One at a time, each of the giant robots began a complex transformation, with each one seeming to transform into what looked to be different body parts. The well spoken Autobot, Midnight Express' head retracted into his body as his arms did the same thing. At the same time, the oldest of the three, Railspike began to transform, with his body turning into a large set of shoulders and a head, which slotted onto the torso that Midnight Express had transformed into. Finally, the most laid back of the group, Rapid Run transformed into back armour, which attached itself to the large body. Finally, two large arms appeared on the large set of new shoulders, and the eyes in the new giant head of the Autobots' combined form surged into life with red energy.

"_Triple power- Rail Racer!"_

With a renewed resolve, the combined Autobots, known in their combined form as Rail Race stood tall out of the trench, towering over all present in the battle zone. Taller than the three separate members of Team Bullet Train, if it was possible to comprehend such a thing, Rail Racer stepped up out of the trench, where he once again towered over his approaching enemies, who quickly stopped in mid run to look at the giant Autobot combiner before them.

Looking back towards his enemies, Rail Racer's electronic eyes glowed red with energy once more behind his large, green visor. Then, opening his right fist so that his palm was exposed, the giant Autobot pulled his arm back, only to thrust it out towards his left. He crouched down as his hand cut through the air, so that it was at the Predacons level, and unable to move out of the way in time, they fell victim to Rail Racer's heavy swipe as the Autobot struck them down with very little effort. But, like before, as the previous line of Predacons fell to the ground in a heap, another wave of Predacons rushed towards Rail Racer; these ones hungrier strike down their enemies, and these ones uncaring that a giant stood in between them accomplishing their goal.

As if they shared one mind, the Predacons each took a gigantic leap into air with such power that they caused the dust and debris around their feet to fly from the ground as they jumped. Once up in the air and at Rail Racer's chest level, the Predacons immediately fired their weapons at the Bullet Train's combined form, who quickly raised his arms before his chest in an x formation so that he could shield himself from the Predacons' furious attack. The Predacons dropped to the ground, feet first one by one as they saw that Rail Racer's white forearms were now a charred black. Smoke wisped up from the Autobot's fresh wounds as Rail Racer lowered his arms with a look of anger on his face before he immediately acted in retaliation by clasping his large hands together. Then, as if holding a heavy axe or sword in his hands, Rail Racer raised his arms over his head only to slam his hands down towards the ground, with the unfortunate Predacon who had landed right before Rail Racer being crush under the full fury of Rail Racer's strike while another two Predacons fell in a heap to the ground from the shockwave caused by Rail Racer flattening the Predacon right before him while his fists collided with the ground.

"Cover 'im!" X-Brawn called to Side Burn, as he looked to see the surviving Predacons regrouping.

"You got it." Side Burn answered.

Rising up from the trenches once more, X-Brawn held his bronco blaster aloft once again, where he aimed it at the first Predacon that came into his sights. Then, as that very Predacon landed in his crosshairs, X-Brawn fired a succession of three orbs of laser fire from his weapon, which quickly shot through the air and collided with their target. Each orb of golden laser energy exploded as they collided with the Predacon's chest and metallic abdomen, which immediately sent the enemy crashing back first to the ground as it exploded in a shower of sparks and metal shards. The unexpected attack had ceased the proceedings between Rail Racer and the remaining Predacons as all eyes turned to look towards X-Brawn and Side Burn who now charged from their position in the trench.

"X-Brawn, transform!"

"Side Burn, transform!"

On those words, the two Autobot brothers transformed to their vehicle modes following a series of mechanical clicks and whirs from the contortions of their bodies. Fully transformed as a silver Mercedes 4x4 and blue Dodge Viper respectively, the two Autobots raced towards the battle, where with no trepidation, X-Brawn led the charge by plowing straight into the first Predacon in his path. As X-Brawn mowed him down, another Predacon was taken by surprise by Side Burn who applied his brakes and turned as he skidded into a tailspin, with the rear of his car form clipping the Predacon's legs so that he too crashed to the ground. The screeching of tyres and roars of powerful engines exerting each rev echoed through the sky as, one by one, each Predacon was sent to the ground in a heap, and as the last Predacon fell from the combined effort of Side Burn and X-Brawn, the two Autobots quickly transformed to their robot modes as they now stood beside their giant friend.

"Your actions weren't necessary," Rail Racer began. "But they were appreciated."

"Anytime." Side Burn replied as he performed the peace sign with his fingers.

A jovial air now hung around the gathered Autobots as their enemies lay prone, or dead around them. However, they found that the jovial nature of their surroundings would not last as the surviving Predacons began to move. But, before the Autobots could notice and act to stop them, the remaining Predacons leaped to their feet in unison, only to retreat back some distance away from the Autobots. Then, in a terrifying final step, the remaining Predacons quickly transformed where they melded together to form a gigantic Predacon combiner- larger than even the mighty Rail Racer himself. Stunned, the Autobots watched with a sense of helplessness as the giant stomped towards them, with every step causing the very ground around them and beneath them to rumble as the giant cast a large shadow over X-Brawn, Side Burn and Rail Racer, who prepared to act in retaliation.

"Oh, scrap..." X-Brawn bluntly announced.

"Look out!" Rail Racer cried.

Within a fraction of a second, both X-Brawn and Side Burn found themselves stunned as they were thrown backwards off their feet, falling to the ground many feet behind Rail Racer, who had swiftly shoved the pair to the rear. Looking up from his prone position, X-Brawn saw that the Autobot had selflessly shoved his friends back, out of harms way as the giant Predacon who lurched forwards to make an attack- a simple, straight punch; but, it was all the giant needed to do. However, Rail Racer continued to show his quick thinking and swift reflexes by raising his own hands up into the air, where he caught the giant's fist in his cupped palms. Watching on, X-Brawn and Side Burn observed in stupefied amazement to see that even the mighty Rail Racer struggled to keep the Predacon at bay. With his feet dug hard into the ground, he attempted to keep the Predacon from breaking through his grip and finishing his attempted punch that would probably render Rail Racer unconscious, but with every second that passed, even Rail Racer knew that he grew that much weaker against the giant's tenacity and strength.

"He's gonna need a hand." X-Brawn said to Side Burn.

"Right." Side Burn echoed. "Then let's switch to super mode."

"No." X-Brawn replied. "That ain't happenin'; we agreed."

"Are you nuts?" Side Burn snapped. "Look at that thing!"

"We made a pact, so we honour it." X-Brawn explained. "'sides, we can't rely on our super modes like a crutch all the time. We gotta learn to deal without 'em."

Despite not wanting to settle for using their super form, X-Brawn felt that the pair would have no choice soon as Rail Racer began to show signs that he was about to falter against the giant. Their super modes, given to them by errant stream of radiation that came from the Autobot Matrix- a power bestowed to the Autobot leader by Cybertron's All Spark- allowed not only Side Burn and X-Brawn, but Prowl too, to manipulate the radiation inside them to give them amazing strength and speed, while also causing their armour to change colour as a by product. Unfortunately, because of the unstable nature of the radiation, the Autobot brothers were unable to retain the power for very long, and once the cycle passed, the three would always find themselves too weak to even move. Because of this, X-Brawn, as the oldest of the three, took the liberty of making the decision that they could only use their super modes when the situation was at its bleakest. Prowl agreed to X-Brawn's decision, but Side Burn was not keen to the pact, missing the point that they couldn't tap into the power like a never ending supply. Someday, the power may leave them forever. But, facing a giant, that threatened to run right over their own giant combiner, Rail Racer, X-Brawn wondered what else they could do before resorting to such a desperate measure.

A situation quickly presented itself before X-Brawn was able to decide what to do. Watching on, X-Brawn looked to see a streak of green and pink rush towards the giant Predacon. Once near the Predacon, the colourful streak began to rush quickly around the giant Predacon's ankles, and following a few laps, the Predacon found that its legs had come together, bound by what X-Brawn noticed as a thick, steel cable. With the cable tied tightly around the giant's ankles, the colourful streak raced away from the two grappling giants, where it skidded to a halt and transformed from a pink, white and green indy car, into an Autobot warrior.

"Okay, Tow-Line," the Autobot, known as Skid-Z called. "Wagons roll!"

With its legs restrained, the giant Predacon took its attention away from Rail Racer, allowing the Autobot combiner a reprieve, which he took as he stepped back towards the two Autobot brothers. Looking on, the group watched as Skid-Z quickly rushed away from the scene, past a powerful looking green and orange tow truck that revved its mighty diesel engine at that moment. Plumes of black exhaust fumes spewed from the truck's smokestacks as the truck struggled to move forwards as its cable and hook were the very thing that had tied the Predacon's legs together, who was now snarling from the situation.

"Nrg...He ain't no little man!" The tow truck, known to his Autobot cohorts as Tow Line grunted.

"Come on, Tow Line!" Side Burn cried as he pumped the air with his fist. "You can take down that fat 'con!"

Side Burn's encouragement seemed to send a surge of power rushing through the tow truck's engine. Reflecting on Side Burn's comment, the powerful, if slightly dim witted Tow Line seemingly realized that if Side Burn said he could do it, then he actually could! He revved his engine once more, which roared through the skies of Auto-City with the very sound resembling that of a mighty lion. Then, second by second, and inch by inch, Tow Line found his tyres actually moving forward as he found that he began to overpower the combined Predacon and actually begin to pull at his legs. Slowly but surely, the Autobot team looked on to see the Predacon giant leaning further and further forwards, until suddenly, Rail Racer, X-Brawn and Side Burn were perplexed as the giant's shadow once again loomed over them while the giant continued to slowly lean forwards until it was horizontal to the ground- which it was dropping straight towards!

"Take cover!" Rail Racer warned.

In fear for their lives, the three Autobots quickly rushed away from the building they had fought hard to defend for the sake of ensuring they weren't crushed under the titanic Predacon's weight. The giant Predacon could do nothing as it watched the ground rapidly approaching it's face; instead, it simply let out an angered cry of humiliation at being made to fall by an insignificant little Autobot. Its body hit the ground, causing the metallic terrain that comprised the planet to rumble violently, immediately throwing X-Brawn, Side Burn and Skid-Z all off their feet, with even Rail Racer falling from the tremors that followed from the giant's fall. The force of the fall, combined with his weakened state caused Rail Racer to separate back into his separated Bullet Train components, Midnight Express, Railspike and Rapid Run, who lay prone on the ground, silent and motionless, much like the other Autobots in the vicinity.

A stillness hung in the air as X-Brawn began to recover. As the first to initially sit up, albeit with a groan, the silver Autobot began to look around, which was at first a difficult task, due to the thick veil of dust that had been thrown up into the air due to the giant Predacon's fall. Faced with that problem, X-Brawn activated a thermal scanned inside his robotic eyes, allowing his sight to cut through the dust so that he could see if any of the Autobots were still functional following the incident. His head turned from left to right as he slowly scanned his surroundings. Team Bullet Train were scattered a few feet apart from each other, while Skid-Z had found himself hunched over the broken foundations of a structure that had been destroyed earlier in the battle. Tow Line, still in his vehicle form, was lying on his side, and finally, X-Brawn's gaze rested on Side Burn, who lay flat on his front beside him.

"Side Burn!" X-Brawn stated in shocked.

Kneeling down, X-Brawn softly took his youngest brother in his hands before carefully turning him over, so he could see the extent of his injuries. Luckily, X-Brawn thought, his damaged seemed to be superficial, as some moderate dents to his upper body had taken place. But, X-Brawn thought, the moderate would be considerable to the young Autobot, who when awoken, would be horrified to see the special targeting lens that hung over his right eye was shattered, while they were also some dents in his face.

"Mm...X-Brawn..." Side Burn weakly muttered, before his robotic eyes shone with life. "Did we win?"

"It sure looks that way, lil' brother." X-Brawn chuckled with relief.

X-Brawn continued to hold his weak and weary brother cradled in his arms while the sounds of movement began to occur. X-Brawn took his attention away from Side Burn to look around and see the other Autobots begin to stir, before they slowly and painfully rose to their feet. Rapid Run first, who helped the older Railspike to his feet. Then, Skid-Z painfully picked himself up off the broken foundations he found himself on, only to then help Tow Line back upright as he transformed to his robot mode, with his gear crunching painfully in such a way that X-Brawn visibly winced at the sound. Finally, with a loud groan, Midnight Express stood, only to lean against Railspike, who took the strain of his partner's weight.

"Oh dear," Midnight Express sighed. "That was a tough one."

"_Not too tough, I hope." _A voice suddenly echoed. _"That wasn't actually on a hard setting, you know."_

Following the voice, the Autobots heard a sound, similar to that of a power turbine that was slowly begin to churn to a stop. The sound of depleting power continued for a few moments, then the Autobots looked around to see that their surroundings were beginning to slowly fade away. The broken buildings, the trenches and wrecks that had surrounded them faded away into nothingness, leaving the prestine surroundings of Auto-City behind. There were no trenches, no wrecks, no destroyed buildings, and perhaps best of all, there were no Predacons, or a Predacon giant as they too had also all faded away. Standing not too far off to the right of the trench where the Autobots had fought were another pair of Autobots. One was painted black, with orange flames painted on his black chest, while the other was a bright yellow Autobot in contrast. He too had a special paint job on his chest plate, but his artwork was of a red eagle.

"So tell us, Hot Shot," Rapid Run began, referring to the black Autobot. "How'd we do?"

"The computer's processing your score." Hot Shot announced, looking to a small computer, which sat on four, slender, silver legs. "Hm...According to this, your group's score is about 75%. Not bad."

"Aw, nuts and bolts." X-Brawn muttered as he stood with Side Burn. "What was the last team's score?"

"92%." The yellow and red Autobot, REV revealed. "That was a team of Mirage, Iron Hide, WARS, Prowl and Optimus Prime."

"Huh. Three of your Spychangers." Rapid Run said. "Sounds to me like you took it easy on 'em."

"You know we wouldn't do that." Hot Shot replied. "Optimus Prime wouldn't allow such a thing."

"Now, now." Railspike began. "We just have to work at it. We'll do better next time, lads."

"If that's the best you've got, you'd better prey to the Allspark that Cybertron never comes under attack!"

The harsh comment, that came from a gruff, bordering on venomous voice caused the gathered Autobots to turn and look in surprise to see a new figure had arrived. Looking tall and powerful, the blue and white Transformer stood taller than most, save for Team Bullet Train, who had a few feet on him. Silver wings sprouted out from either side of his broad back, while he stood on thick blue legs, that comprised most of the height of his body. Yellow eyes narrowed, burning a hole of disdain right through the combined group of Autobots who looked back, seeing that the golden Autobot insignia in the center of the robot's forehead shone from the bright Auto-City lights.

"Ultra Magnus, you're back." said Railspike.

"Sure looks that way." Ultra Magnus answered dismissively. "It also looks like things haven't changed much. Since the end of the war, you gear heads are still playing with your simulators. Heh, can't even get a flawless score on it, either."

"Sorry we can't all be big, bad hombres like you." X-Brawn grunted. "What're you doin' back, anyhow? I thought you were leavin' and never comin' back."

"I have my reasons." Ultra Magnus spat. "One of them is to see your _glorious leader_." He continued, finishing his sentence with sarcasm. "Where is he?"

"If you're referring to Optimus Prime, then he is where you would expect to find him- in Iacon tower." Midnight Express answered.

"You're right, he's as predictable as always." Ultra Magnus replied.

Saying nothing more, Ultra Magnus began to walk. As each of his footsteps sent a hard echo through the air, the Autobots watched as the large Autobot casually walked past them with the same look of disdain on his face. They watched, only until they saw him making his way for the entrance to the large Iacon tower.

"Hold up, partner." X-Brawn called out. "Where ya goin'?"

The question caused Ultra Magnus to stop as he reached the glass and golden metal metal. He rose his head, but didn't bother to turn his head back around to look at X-Brawn, as in his mind, that would have been too polite- and Ultra Magnus wasn't in the right frame of mind to remember his manners. Instead, he simply glared at the figure of X-Brawn that he could see in the reflection of the glass in the door.

"I told you, I'm here to see Optimus."

"Optimus Prime isn't to be disturbed." Tow Line announced in his low toned voice.

"Is that so?" Ultra Magnus asked.

If the Autobots expected Ultra Magnus forget about his own reasons and respect what he had just been told, then they were shocked to see that Ultra Magnus said nothing more, but instead walked through the door, which opened and closed behind him automatically. Appalled, the group of Autobots watched Ultra Magnus walked through the entrance hall of the tower, still hearing his clanking footsteps against the metallic floor, until he turned a corner in the corridor, disappearing from sight.

"Why that insufferable, insubordinate..." REV began. "We should teach him what _do not disturb _means!"

"Forget it." Hot Shot muttered. "Just let him go."

"Yeah." X-Brawn agreed. "Y'know what Magnus is like. If it came down to it, the only way we could stop him is with force. Right now, I'm too tuckered out for that, and besides, Side Burn needs some time in a repair chamber."

"I wonder what he came back for." Skid-Z asked. "Like you said, X-Brawn, he said he was never coming back."

"Who knows." Railspike shrugged. "The only Autobot who knows is Ultra Magnus himself, but I've got a feeling his return doesn't actually mean anything good."

As the Autobots began to leave and only wonder at what Ultra Magnus' reasons for storming past them were, the Autobot renegade intended to broadcast his reasons soon enough. Keeping his head bowed towards the floor with an angry look adorning his face, Ultra Magnus stomped through the corridors of Iacon, causing any Autobot who came before him to quickly step out of his way, so as not to face his wrath. Ultra Magnus was always one to wear his metaphorical heart on his sleeve; if he was in a bad mood, it was easily identifiable by the look on his face, and usually by his walk also. Many Autobots had learned in the past that if Ultra Magnus was in a less than pleasant frame of mind that they should simply move out of his way and let him continue on with no questions asked. Today, Ultra Magnus was in a particularly surly mood, and as he stepped in to the the elevator that would take him to the top floor of the Iacon tower, he punched the button on the elevator angrily as the elevator then began its ascent. With a grunt, Ultra Magnus rested his back against the wall of the elevator behind him as he glared at the small led screen above the door of the elevator. Iacon tower had 100 floors, but it took only seconds to find himself within 10 floors of reaching his destination, until finally, with a pinging sound, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. This allowed Ultra Magnus to continue on his journey, which he did by angrily stomping out of the elevator, and through the only door that stood before him. With only mere feet standing between the elevator and the door, Ultra Magnus quickly walked through it before his eyes then widened at the scene before him.

The room Ultra Magnus stood in was a large, oval shaped room. Built with golden metal walls, the walls were lined with different holographic portraits of former Autobot leaders who had served through the centuries. The floor was lined with a white floor, that led to a large desk, which had a large computer and computer monitor on it, along with countless data pads that were neatly piled in two trays aside of one another. However, it wasn't these things that caused Ultra Magnus eyes to twitch. Instead, it was the figure, who was as large and looked as powerful as he did, sitting behind the desk that had caused his reaction. Sitting behind the endless pile of work on his desk was the red and blue Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, whose reaction upon seeing Ultra Magnus was much like Magnus' own as Prime's eyes widened upon seeing Ultra Magnus standing in the center of his office.

"Ultra Magnus!" Optimus Prime exclaimed. "Welcome back. I didn't expect to see you."

"I figured." Ultra Magnus replied. "I didn't bother to send you an e-mail or anything, not that I would have."

"Well, all that matters is you're here now." Optimus Prime replied. "Come, sit." He continued, motioning to the chair opposite his desk. "Tell me where your sabbatical took you."

"Can the brotherly love and reunion, Prime." Ultra Magnus announced. "I'm not here for any of that, instead I'm here to call you out."

"Call me out?" Optimus Prime asked. "Magnus, I don't understand..."

"I haven't been off Cybertron taking a vacation to another star system, you know." Ultra Magnus began, now standing over Optimus Prime's desk.

"I've been scouring the cosmos, for Predacons and Decepticons. Do you know how long it takes a single Autobot to travel the ends of the universe in a 'con hunt? I'll tell you- it takes too long!"

If Optimus Prime wished to interject and stop Ultra Magnus in his tirade, he found it fruitless as Ultra Magnus, now with a metaphorical head of steam, as well as a mind full of anger continued.

"I figured that after our last _chat_, you would have gotten the hint, Prime, and sent at least some search parties out into space to look around. But I checked the mission and data logs on the Autobot server on my ship everyday, hoping that you'd give the word to start looking for the enemy. But no. Instead, what do you do? You declare the war over! Is your motherboard loose in there?"

"I gave such a decree because the war is over." Optimus Prime replied calmly, in a stark contrast to Ultra Magnus' rampage. "Galvatron, as well as his inner circle were captured and sent to the prison asteroid. You know that."

"Oh, so that makes it okay, huh?" Ultra Magnus hissed. "We can put down our weapons, hold hands and dance around Cybertron, just because Galvatron's behind laser bars? Wake up and smell the motor oil, Prime! Just because Galvatron's been put down doesn't mean that the other Predacons have simply given up! Out of the nine Predacons and Decepticon Commandos locked up, there are thousands more out there, somewhere in the stars. They'll never stop until Cybertron, and the very universe belongs to them."

"Listen to yourself, brother," Optimus Prime began. "You're reacting to something that we have no proof of. I'll admit, there are plenty of Predacons, and their Decepticon cousins left out there, but since their leader fell to our justice, they have taken to the deepest parts of space since even they know the war is over. Galvatron was on Earth for energy to power his war efforts, and when that failed, it meant that the Tri-Predacus war machine had no more life left in it. As far as I, and others in the upper tier of the Autobot ranks are concerned, the war is very much over."

Optimus Prime's small speech caused Ultra Magnus' eyes to narrow. He clenched his fists tight; so tight, that it caused his hands to shake as anger bubbled through his circuits. For a moment, he felt like all of time stood still, simply because of the sheer anger he felt at the hopelessness of trying to get his brother to understand his view. But, he couldn't take trying to prove his point with words any longer, as he settled on a physical reaction. Quickly, Ultra Magnus grabbed the nearest object on Prime's desk- the computer monitor, and with little effort, he snatched it up into the air, ripping the two cables out from it, which caused the screen to become engulfed in darkness. Then, as quickly as he snatched the monitor up into air, Ultra Magnus threw the monitor across the room, where it collided with the wall and shattered into a thousand pieces of glass and plastic on the floor. Still, with much fury flowing through him, Ultra Magnus slammed his right fist into Optimus Prime's desk and glared at his brother angrily.

"You never change, do you?" Ultra Magnus roared. "There's still much to be done out there, but just because the immediate threat is out of the way, you'll just pretend there's nothing to worry about. You'd sooner sit in your little office and file reports, than actively do your duty to the Autobots you're responsible for! You'd rather sit there and let the threat come to you, so it can take you unawares! You're not fit to be the Autobot leader; I don't know what the Allspark was thinking when it chose you over me! If I were the leader, this war wouldn't be considered over until the last 'con was a smoking pile of nuts and bolts underneath my feet!

Once again, Optimus Prime prepared to speak, but he was immediately cut off by Ultra Magnus, who continued his tirade.

"Well, you know what, Prime, if you're not going to do your job, I'm going to do it for you- again. I'm going back out there, and I'm going to find out what they're up to and I'm going to stop it- with or without your help. I returned because I figured maybe you'd want to get in on the ground floor and work together to make sure the threat to the universe was wiped out, but I guess I was wrong. You won't see me again until the rest of the 'con menace has been destroyed. When that's done, I'll be back to take the mantle of leadership from you, because I'll have proven my worth."

"That's where you're wrong!" Optimus Prime snapped as Ultra Magnus prepared to leave. "Steps have been taken to ensure a repeat of what happened on Earth never happens again! The prison asteroid is regularly policed by us to make sure that Galvatron never escapes, or that anyone tries to break him out of prison. We are not sitting idle and doing nothing, Ultra Magnus, you need to recognize that."

"Ahahaha, if that helps you sleep at night, Prime, then fine." Ultra Magnus laughed. "Just stay here, push your papers and pretend everything is okay. But sooner or later, you'll realize -much to your horror- that I was right."

With that, Ultra Magnus turned, then he quickly walked out of Optimus Prime's office, so that he couldn't give his brother a chance to stop him to reason with him. As Optimus Prime watched the door to his office close behind Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime simply slumped in his chair for a moment, then he allowed himself a long sigh. The confrontation with Ultra Magnus had made him weary, much like the last time the two had come to blows, over the same subject, in fact. The pair had co-operated for about two earth years in governing a new era of peace on Cybertron, following Galvatron's defeat. But, after those two years, talks had begun by Ultra Magnus as to what to do about the security of the rest of the universe. Soon, those talks to heated debates, and those debates then escalated into full arguments, with the breaking point being when Ultra Magnus had left the first time. He had been gone for a further eight Earth years, and his sudden return gave Optimus Prime hope that he was there to reconcile. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Optimus Prime considered running after his brother to try and make him see reason, but he quickly dismissed such a thought. If there was any chance he could make Ultra Magnus see reason, he would have been able to do it during their volatile few minutes spent together in Prime's office. Instead, Optimus Prime simply sighed again, then he stood from his seat. He turned on his heel and strode over the far rear wall, where he looked out of the window, to the ground far below. Thanks to his robotic eyes, he zoomed his telescopic sight to the ground, where he saw Ultra Magnus angrily stomp out from Iacon. He watched Ultra Magnus transform into his vehicle mode of an armoured car carrier, then Ultra Magnus sped off into the distance, leaving Optimus Prime to wonder how many years it would be until Ultra Magnus returned.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

In Earth years, this day marked the ten year anniversary of Galvatron and his Earth based Predacon forces finally being defeated by the Autobots. While ten years was a long time for an Earthling, to those from Cybertron, ten Earth years was nothing but a drop in the ocean to their long life span. However, one race of Cybertronian beings found the last ten Earth years to be a long and depressing time.

The word of Galvatron's defeat on Earth had reached Cybertron long before Fortress Maximus had arrived on the Transformers' home planet, sending a wave of dread surging through the Predacon forces that Galvatron had left behind. Believing the news to be nothing more than rumour and wishful thinking, the Predacons carried on their war against the Autobots as they continually waged war across the planet which they desperately attempted to take over. But on the fateful day Fortress Maximus touched down on the metallic surface of Cybertron and revealed their great leader bound in magnetic cuffs, the order was given for the Predacons to retreat and withdraw into the darkness of space.

One Predacon in particular remembered that day well, and the very familiar events of that day flashed through his computerised brain as he flew through space. In his form as a large, metallic black Tiger with large purple wings, the Predacon banked sharply, dropping through space where it entered the atmosphere of a large rocky moon, with the ground getting closer and closer to it as it dropped towards the ground.

"Razorclaw, terrorize!"

With those words from the Tiger's mouth, its body immediately began to contort and shift. Gears hissed and cogs whirred as its form completely changed from a metallic winged Tiger, to that of a large, imposing robotic warrior known as a Predacon, and now in his robotic form, Razorclaw dropped to the ground of the moon feet first, allowing his metallic, clawed feet to skid and shred through the rocky surface of the moon. For a moment, there was silence, allowing Razorclaw to once again reflect on his previous thoughts, which he often did. His red visor, which served as his eyes, surged with energy of anger- he had never gotten over the way the order was given to all Predacons to simply retreat and disappear, as he was a Predacon who enjoyed a fight to the bitter end. If he walked away, it would be because he had bludgeoned his opponent to scrap iron, meaning that the fight was over. He despised leaving the battlefield on the order of retreat, but as any good soldier, Razorclaw accepted his orders and did what his superior ordered.

A sudden sound and movement caused Razorclaw to take his attention from the rocky ground beneath his feet, and over towards a large pile boulders, which ran along the terrain west of him like a large wall. With a growl emitting from his mouth, his beast form's wings, which were now mounted on his shoulders, leaned forwards, aiming a pair of missiles, which were among the many metallic feathers of his wings towards the wall. It was highly possible whatever made the sound and movement was an enemy- perhaps an Autobot spy who had tracked him across the cosmos. Or perhaps it was even a strange creature native to the moon that he had arrived upon. Whatever it was, Razorclaw kept his missiles trained on the wall…That is, until the sight that met his gaze caused him to lower his weapons. Appearing from behind the cover of the wall, Razorclaw looked on to see a familiar creature.

While the sight was familiar and friendly to Razorclaw, anyone who was not familiar with the creature would have screamed in fright, as it stood at least at six feet tall with the form of a perverse amalgamation of Preying Mantis and Lizard- its body was that of a large yellow Mantis, with the familiar bug eyes, mandibles and claws of a Mantis, but its skin was Reptilian, with a reptilian tail which hung from the end of its strange form, which currently stood, looking towards Razorclaw, whose visor once again surged with red energy.

"It's been a long time, Razorclaw…" The strange Mantis announced to the robot before it.

"Too long, Repugnus. I see these last ten years haven't caused you to become a rusting hulk of metal, like they have with many of our Predacon brothers and sisters." Razorclaw summarised.

"No indeed," the Mantis replied, before it cried, "Repugnus, terrorize!"

Before Razorclaw's electric eyes, he watched as the creature he knew as Repugnus began to change, much in the same way he had earlier. Cogs and gears hissed and whirred until in place of the strange Mantis creature was Repugnus in his robotic form. Now both as robots, the pair began to walk across the rocky terrain side by side. Like the pair had said when they first saw each other, it had been countless years since they had seen each other last. In fact, as the pair remembered, their last encounter with each other was just after the Predacons were ordered to retreat from a skirmish on Cybertron, and when they returned to the Predacons' mother ship, their current leader gave them the order to withdraw and separate into the endless void of space, so that the Autobots would be unable to capture all of them. The bid had worked, as the Autobots finally ceased their pursuit of their enemies, figuring that they were scattered too far and wide across the galaxy, and as they were all thinly spread across space, they could do little harm. But while the Predacons were left in peace and without fear of being apprehended at the furthest corners of the galaxy by the Autobots, man of the Predacons, like Razorclaw, were still angry over the fact they seemed to just give up.

After much walking in silence, Repugnus decided to speak and try to break the invisible barrier that seemingly was between he and his old comrade.

"So…" Repugnus began, "any idea why we've been summoned here?"

"No." Razorclaw replied simply. "But it had better be a good reason for me to expend as much energon as I have to cross space. It had better be an announcement that we shall return to arms, otherwise I shall slash his cowardly head from his lazy shoulders!"

"Heh, you still burned over the fact Megabolt made us give up?" Repugnus asked, chuckling over Razorclaw's bitter tone. "Well, can't say I blame ya. In fact, a lot of our old buddies have felt the same way for a long time. A change needs to happen, and happen now, if we're going to survive."

"The day cannot come soon enough in my eyes." Razorclaw muttered.

After much walking, Razorclaw and Repugnus began to view something protruding from the horizon. As they strode closer and closer, the shadow on the horizon began to reveal itself as a large building, which grew more and more in size with every step they took to approach it. Not only that, but their robotic ears could hear the inaudible sounds of collective chatter and conversation. Finally, as the two Predacons were now before the fortress, they could see that not only had they been summoned to this moon, but indeed, Predacons from every corner of the galaxy had been summoned there as well. Looking around, Razorclaw could see many Predacons that he hadn't seen since he was brought online, countless centuries ago. Others had been posted to a completely different part of the universe, neither he, nor Repugnus knew who they were, but then, their eyes fell upon a small group of Predacons they knew all too well.

Standing over in the crowd, Razorclaw and Repugnus could see three Predacons, all in their robotic forms. The smallest of the tree had green legs and forearms. Much of his torso and upper arms were black, with clawed hands and feet at the end of his green limbs. His face was green, and sitting on his green face was a maroon coloured helmet with a Mohawk like design which was atop it. Standing beside him was a Predacon with a feminine design, although stood a few feet taller than the previous Predacon. Mostly orange and black, this Predacon was distinctive by the fact the back of her helmet resembled long, black hair. Her frame was much curvier, but a pair of frightening orange claws, which protruded from her centre fingers and ran so long that the claws stopped by her knees, betrayed this alluring trait.

Standing behind them, and dwarfing them in size was a brute of a Predacon. As tall as he was wide, the thick Predacon was coloured as black as night, with only a few patches of light brown paint adorning his shins and forearms. A pair of large tusks protruded from his shoulders, thanks to his beast mode, but the most striking feature on this titanic Predacon was his face, which was a dark face that resembled that of Optimus Prime's. Fortunately for the Predacons, he only resembled the noble Autobot leader in appearance- his demeanour was that of a Predacon through and through.

"Nemesis Prime!" Razorclaw called through the crowd, causing the largest of the Predacons he recognised to turn and look towards him.

"Well, I'll be damned." The large Predacon, known as Nemesis Prime announced, "Razorclaw, AND Repugnus! This truly is an evil reunion!"

Immediately, Razorclaw and Repugnus rushed through the crowds of evil robots and joined their three allies. All five of these Predacons had served as an infantry, under the command of Nemesis Prime. Originally, the behemoth had been known only as Nemesis, but after a skirmish between he and Optimus Prime that saw the Autobot leader placed in the repair bays of Cybertron for months, Nemesis had his face remoulded in a mocking symbol of victory and took the name Nemesis Prime.

"All together again!" The shortest of the three, who was named Reptilion replied after pumping fists with Repugnus. "I thought the day would never come."

"It is good to see you all again." Repugnus announced. "Especially you, Blackarachnia. Still as beautiful as I recall, and hopefully as deadly! Heh, heh."

"So much so that I could kill you now, my repulsive Repugnus." Blackarachnia replied to Repugnus with a wink, before she greeted Razorclaw.

"So tell me," Razorclaw said next, "why are we all here? I see so many Predacons, and even Decepticons that I have never seen before."

"I do not know." Nemesis Prime replied to his old comrade. "Nobody knows. We all just received the same radio message you must have, that all Predacons and Decepticons were to convene at Megabolt's fortress."

"It had better be important." Blackarachnia sneered as she looked among the crowd. "Having to be around all these oil headed Decepticons…It's degrading!"

The five Predacons looked amongst the crowd, and did indeed see many Decepticons standing amongst other Predacons, and all were relatively unhappy and uncomfortable with it. While both factions served the Tri-Predacus council, what form a Tri-Predacus protoform took determined what faction it would be classed as. If a Protoform scanned the form of a creature, and could therefore transform into a creature, no matter how alien, it would become a Predacon. However, if the Protoform scanned a vehicle, or piece of mechanical equipment, it could transform into that mechanical product and therefore became a Decepticon. Both factions usually had a competitive animosity towards the other, and many times Razorclaw secretly wondered if it was that inside feud between the factions that could have helped lead to the downfall of the Predacons and the Decepticons.

"Well, I'm tired of waiting!" A Decepticon, who was known as Blastcharge suddenly roared amongst the crowd. "Come out, Megabolt! If you don't, my chest mounted missiles shall rip through this door of yours and we'll beat an explanation out of ya!"

"Typical Decepticon…" Reptilion muttered. "Full of firepower, but has no real circuitry upstairs to speak of."

"Look!" Razorclaw suddenly cried before he pointed up to a balcony of the fortress. "Something's happening."

The crowd of countless Predacons and Decepticons looked on at the movements coming from the balcony. A door had opened, leading to the balcony, and a pair of guards marched from out of the fortress and stood at either corner of the small balcony. The evil Transformers stood on the ground below, anticipating the arrival of their host, that was sure to follow, and following a series of ominous sounding footsteps, a large green and silver Decepticon strode out of the fortress. Silver metallic claws protruded from his back, as a regal red cape fluttered from his back, fastened on to his broad green shoulders.

"My Predacons, and Decepticons," the Decepticon, known as Megabolt began in a smooth voice. "Welcome to the Tri-Predacus headquarters. Although I will admit, your collective presence confuses me, yeess."

"What are you talking about?" A Decepticon cried out from the confused masses. "You summoned us!"

"That isn't the case, nooo." Megabolt replied, drawing out his final word. "I have no reason to summon you. My last orders were for all Predacons and Decepticons to spread out across the galaxy, following Megatron-…I mean, Galvatron's arrest. As the last living member of the Tri-Predacus Council, my word is absolute, and my order still stands, yeeesss."

"Greedy piece of slag probably destroyed all the others…" Reptilion muttered to Repugnus, who snorted with amusement.

"Councillor Megabolt, if you didn't summon us here, and nor did our great leader, Galvatron," Nemesis Prime called out, "I ask all here, who did?"

"Yeah!" Blastcharge roared again from his position in the crowd. "Come on! I'll bet it was one of you dirty Predacons just trying to waste our time as some kind of joke!"

"Stuff it up your exhaust port!" Blackarachnia cried over the crowds defensively. "Why would we lower ourselves by associating with you?"

"Girly, I'll crush you for such a slur!" Blastcharge roared. "I'd rather stand with an Autobot! At least they transform into vehicles, unlike you dumb animal lovers!"

Megabolt looked on to see Blastcharge attempt to barge through a group of Predacons who stood near him, but the Predacons defiantly shoved him back. This raised the ire of other Decepticons, who now began to bicker and shove the Predacons, and within seconds the crowd's ire had turned from Megabolt towards each other. Megabolt couldn't help but grin.

"Idiots." Megabolt whispered to the guard on his left. "Ahhh well, if they destroy each other, so be it. It means I won't have to continue to deliver my precious energon across the galaxy just to keep them alive…"

Megabolt continued to happily watch the Decepticons and Predacons below him shove and argue with one another. However, after an errant punch, causing a Predacon to fall to the ground, the situation began to turn violent. The Transformers began to punch and kick each other, and the situation threatened to turn even worse when the short-tempered Decepticons began to withdraw their weapons, causing the Predacons to do the same.

"Ahh, and so it ends." Megabolt smirked to his guards as he turned on his heel to return to the comfort of his fortress. "Still, never mind. It's not like I wished to pick this war back up, anyway. We shall live off the endless stockpile of energon I have, and the Autobots will never find us."

Megabolt had just crossed through the door of his fortress, when he suddenly stopped. He noticed that the shouting and anger of the Predacons and Decepticons had ceased, and turned into quiet mutters of confusion. Another noise was in its place, this one the loud, unmistakeable hum of rocket engines. With a start, Megabolt turned and rushed back to the edge of the balcony to see that a large purple space ship hovered up in the sky, above the Predacons, Decepticons and Megabolt's fortress.

"Who is that?" Megabolt roared anxiously.

"I do not know, m'lord." The one guard answered.

"Then find out!" Megabolt cried. "In fact, no, don't bother..."

Looking down towards the confused masses below him, Megabolt cried out to all of his Predacons and Decepticons.

"My warriors! It is the Autobots! They have come for us! Shoot down that vessel! I command it!"

"Well heck," Blastcharge's voice suddenly echoed through the crowd. "If it means I get to blast something, why not? Chest charge missiles, fire!"

Looking up at the space ship, Blastcharge then arched his back, causing his chest, to be bared towards the sky. Protruding from his chest, were three large, blue missiles, which were armed and ready to fire the second Blastcharge wished to send them hurling from his chest, which doubled as his missile silo. After a moment of considering his aim, Blastcharge fired one of the three missiles from his chest. The missile shot out of his chest, flew swiftly through the sky and collided with the mysterious space ship…but the missile dealt it no damage. Confused, Blastcharge fired his next missile, and swiftly followed it up with his last of three missiles, which cut through the sky, and both collided with the undercarriage of the ship, but like the previous missile, his remaining two didn't even give the ship a scratch.

"Shoot it down!" Megabolt roared once again to his audience, his calm temperament now one of panic, thanks to the mysterious visitors.

"There's no point, the ship obviously has a strong force field protecting it…" Reptilion muttered to his old comrades.

"Well, I was never one to question my superior's orders," Nemesis Prime said to Reptilion. "Big Cannon!"

With that, Nemesis Prime lifted a large, dual barrelled laser cannon in the air, which was dubbed the big cannon. Holding the heavy looking cannon's barrels in his left palm, Nemesis Prime held the big cannon aloft, until it was trained on the mysterious ship. From there, the Predacon squeezed the trigger, and a pair of bright purple bolts of energy thundered from the cannon, which such force that it pushed the large Predacon back across the ground, with a blast that echoed over the valley. Megabolt looked on, seeing that Nemesis Prime's own attack roused the other Predacons, and eventually the Decepticons to all raise their weapons and fire on the ship. For countless minutes, Megabolt desperately watched as their firepower was concentrated on the ship and explosions rained, multi coloured lasers flew into the sky and battered the ship, until each of their weapons was depleted of energy. Then, Megabolt gasped in surprise.

"It can't be, nooo…"

The ship began to drop from the sky. Unfortunately for Megabolt, the ship wasn't descending from the sky due to the damage- instead, still under its own power, it slowly began to land on the surface of the moon, without a single scratch from the combined barrage. The crowds of Predacons and Decepticons parted as the ship finally touched down on large, silver legs in the place where they had converged, and after a hiss of hydraulics, the ship's rockets powered down, and a silence then hung in the air. The ship stayed silent and motionless before everyone for countless moments.

"Crazy." Repugnus whispered before he looked to Nemesis Prime. "What do we do, chief?"

"Nothing," Nemesis Prime replied. "Not unless the Councillor orders us to."

"Why are we taking orders from him?" Blackarachnia snorted.

"Because without Galvatron, HE is our leader." Nemesis Prime snapped. "Besides, at least then, the blame of our aggression falls on his head, and not ours."

A sudden sound stopped the group's conversation. All Predacons and Decepticons looked on to the large undercarriage of the ship open and reveal itself as a large ramp, which, when it finally touched down on the moon's rocky surface, revealed the interior of the dimly lit ship. Footsteps could be heard from inside the ship, and the Transformers all took notice when they saw a large, blue Transformer standing at the top of the ramp. Blue from the tips of the claws on his feet, to the top of his head, the Transformer looked to the others on the ground before he thrust his right arm-which looked to have a dragon's head on the end of it- in the air before he spoke.

"Greetings, my fellow Predacons and Decepticons!" The blue Transformer cried as a pair of black robots appeared behind him, flanking him.

"Who the slag is that?" The loud mouthed Blastcharge asked above the crowd, which caused a grin to tug at the blue Transformer's lips.

"My name is Cryotek," he replied. "I am Predacon, and it was I who summoned you all here!"

"Very interesting I'm sure, yeesss." The voice of Megabolt cried to the ship. "But still- how dare you drag every Predacon and Decepticon in the known universe to my doorstep? State your business!"

"I shall gladly do just that, Councillor." Cryotek said to Megabolt, following a mocking bow. "My comrades, I have called you all here today as this is a momentous occasion. A change is here! For too long have we, the rightful rulers of this universe hid in the shadows, trying to live out our lives ensuring that we do not cross a single Autobot. It is a life of dishonour, unbefitting of our warrior race. Today is the day that we once again rise up, and we shall do so, under my rule."

"I beg your pardon?" Megabolt said with a slight laugh or surprise. "Your rule? Oh my friend, I do believe you are mistaken, yeeesss. With Galvatron incarcerated, I lead the Tri-Predacus forces in his place, as the soul surviving member of the Tri-Predacus Council."

"That was true- once." Cryotek replied. "It is because of you, Councillor that we have become rusting shells of our former selves! It is your fault that all these before you have allowed the shadows of shame to blanket and smother their spirits. Come! Look at yourselves! I mean, are we cowardly robots who shy away…Or are we the proud warrior Predacons and Decepticons? Do we really wish to follow a greedy, selfish 'bot who cowardly slain the other council members in the shadows, or do you wish to fight with a strong warrior, rested and ready to slay Optimus Prime and lead you to gain control of the universe?"

A collective cheer suddenly erupted from the crowd, which caused Megabolt to jerk upright in surprise. He looked on to see that his Predacon and Decepticon warriors were looking to this stranger, and the two Transformers who flanked him with eagerness and admiration. His words were stirring a fire in them. Unfortunately, it would mean Megabolt's reign would be over- unless he dowsed the flames now.

"Careful of what you say, Cryotek." Megabolt spat. "You've gone too far with such bold and false claims."

"No, I have only just begun." Cryotek replied with a rebellious tone. "I know of you, and I have grown tired of watching our brothers and sisters wither and die under your rule. Since Galvatron's defeat, you have led our race up a path that leads to nowhere but oblivion. I am here to guide them back to glory, and I will do it by force if I must."

"You dare challenge me?" Megabolt roared in anger. "Your treachery will not go unpunished. Very well, I shall oblige you, yesss."

The crowds watched on, and Blackarachnia in particular gasped in surprise when she saw Megabolt rip the cape from his shoulders, and leap over the railing of his balcony. Dropping down from the balcony, Megabolt landed gracefully on the rocky ground of the moon, and with a growl, he looked towards Cryotek, who now strode down the ramp of his ship and stood in the gathered crowds, his gaze meeting Megabolt's.

"Your destruction is assured, yesss. Megablaster!"

On his own command, a series of clicks and whirs could be heard as a cannon slid up from Megabolt's upper back and clicked into place on his right shoulder. As soon as it locked into place, the inside of the cannon began to glow with orange energy, and within an instant, a bolt of bright, hot orange laser energy shot from the cannon and collided with Cryotek's right shoulder with enough force that the roguish Predacon dropped to a knee instantly. Megabolt rushed towards Cryotek, who looked up to see Megabolt swing his right foot towards Cryotek in an attempt to kick his opponent in the face, but unfortunately for him, Cryotek's dragonhead opened its jaws and caught his foot. The jaws locked down tight on Megabolt's leg, and the Decepticon let out a cry of pain.

"You can't simply smooth talk your way out of this one, Councillor!" Cryotek cried.

Cryotek then snatched his arm backwards, pulling Megabolt's foot up into the air, where he snatched Megabolt up into the air, and the Decepticon landed on the moon's surface hard on his back. Cryotek stood above Megabolt, and the jaws of the dragonhead opened once more.

"Dragon flame attack!"

Megabolt looked to see Cryotek standing above him- and that was the last thing he saw as a large plume of blue flames rushed from the open mouth of the dragonhead at the end of Cryotek's arm. The flames lashed at Megabolt's face, with the heat immediately melting away at the Councillor's faceplate and his optic sensors. An oil chilling scream filled the air, and Megabolt rolled backwards, escaping the flames, before he weakly stood, and all but Cryotek gasped to see that Megabolt's face was now molten metal, which dripped towards the ground.

"Should we do something?" Repugnus asked, slightly confused by the infighting.

"No." Razorclaw bluntly replied, which caused a shocked Repugnus to look to him. "Why should we? This idiot has done nothing to prove his leadership over us. If he can defeat this Cryotek, then I might be inclined to actually take his word as law seriously."

"Yes." Nemesis Prime concurred. "We should let them finish this scrap without interruption. Whoever wins shall earn the right to lead all of us."

"Is that all you have Councillor?" Cryotek called tauntingly over Megabolt's screams. "Shall we save our precious energon, and you can admit defeat now."

"No! You shall never beat me! Megablaster!"

Another powerful blast of orange energy flew from Megabolt's shoulder mounted cannon, but due to his blinded state from the destruction of his optic sensors, the blasts from his cannon shot anywhere but for Cryotek, including into the crowds of Predacons and Decepticons, and up into space. Cryotek simply laughed before he leaped backwards, ensuring that he would be a safe distance from the wild fire, before he then pulled a large crossbow from his right hip and threw it into the air.

"Hahaha! Chro, attack!"

As the blue crossbow flew through the air, it quickly transformed into a large robotic crow. With a squawk, Chro flew through the air, gracefully dodging the rapid fire blasts coming from Megabolt's shoulder cannon, where it the swooped and Megabolt and ripped the cannon from his shoulder, which caused Megabolt to emit a loud scream from the weapon being ripped from his body. Chro then flew high into the air, swooped back around and dropped the now mangled shoulder cannon before Cryotek's feet.

"Beast mode!"

With that roar from Cryotek, he immediately transformed into his alternate form as a giant blue Dragon. With heavy feet, Cryotek swiftly turned around and as he did, the long, thick tail that snaked from his back whipped around and collided with the back of Megabolt's legs, sweeping him off his feet, where he crashed to the ground back first. Still blinded, Megabolt weakly sat up, groaning as he attempted to try and figure out what to do next. He attempted to call for help, but his head module was melted so much that weak bleeps came from his mouth as opposed to any cries or pleas for assistance. Cryotek now stomped forwards and towered above the Councillor in his large and imposing Dragon form, before he immediately reached down with his long neck and wrapped his jaws around Megabolt's neck. Tightening his jaws, Cryotek clamped his teeth around Megabolt's neck and pulled as hard as he could, and immediately, in one merciless thrust, Cryotek ripped Megabolt's melting head clean from his shoulders.

The Predacons and Decepticons looked on to see that Cryotek stood over Megabolt's now dead form, still in his beast form. After a few moment's silence, Cryotek transformed, immediately shifting back into his robot form, and he now gripped Megabolt's head in his dragonhead on the end of his arm. Looking triumphant, Cryotek looked towards the silent masses as Chro landed and perched on his master's shoulder.

"My friends, Megabolt's reign is over!" Cryotek announced. "Our existence of shame ends here, and under my leadership we can rebuild our broken empire, if you choose to follow me."

"Well, considering you just made molten metal out of that loser, you can count me in!" Blastcharge cried from the crowd with the pump of his fist.

"You," Cryotek said in response to Blastcharge. "You were the one who fired the first shot at my ship. It is nerve like that that we will need! And I notice that Nemesis Prime is among us! The word of your humiliation of Optimus Prime was spread far and wide. Join me, just like the rest of you! Join my crew and I, and we shall take the first step to the destruction of the Autobots and our conquest of the universe!"


	2. Ep2 Visiting Hours

**_Episode 2- Visiting Hours_**

**Chapter 1**

The last few hours had become a whirlwind not only for Nemesis Prime and his reformed squad of Predacons, but in fact for the entire Predacon and Decepticon force that had converged at the fortress of Megabolt. The events that had unfolded in front of their very eyes had changed everything they had known for the past ten years, and rewritten their race's history.

The last remaining member of the Tri-Predacus Council, Megabolt was now dead- slain at the hands of a roguish, yet very powerful Predacon by the name of Cryotek. He had appeared, and within minutes, he had changed the course of the Predacons' fate. Razorclaw in particular had watched on and felt a spark of hope in an otherwise dark void that had become his psyche- if this Cryotek was bold enough to challenge a Tri-Predacus Councillor, and if he was really powerful enough to destroy him within minutes, perhaps this Cryotek's promises and claims of a return to glory for the warrior race could indeed be true. Still, many Predacons and Decepticons were still sceptical.

"We've heard it all before!" A white and blue Predacon, known as Frostbite suddenly snorted. "I remember Megatron used to blow the same kind of hot air before he travelled to Earth. He promised that his return would signal a turn in the tide of the war, and instead his return meant that the Predacons were through!"

"I have to agree." Blackarachnia said in agreement as she brushed the metallic hair on the back of her head. "He could have also at least promised us better travelling arrangements!"

Following Megabolt's defeat, Cryotek increased the Predacons' and Decepticons' morale with an even greater pep talk than he had given before. He promised all of the evil Transformers unity, a new purpose, nourishment and a new home. They boarded his space ship eagerly, but their opinions soon soured once they realized that due to their great number, all of the Predacons and Decepticons who didn't comprise Cryotek's crew had to make their stay in the cargo hold of his space ship. And so, the Predacons and Decepticons found themselves cramped up in the giant cargo hold, all of them desperate for the space ship to touch down so they could disembark.

Movement from above caught the collective groups attention. Up on a high balcony, a door opened, and the Predacons and Decepticons looked up to see Cryotek walk out onto a catwalk, once again flanked by the same two warriors who walked with him from his ship on Megabolt's moon. Both were painted black and purple, and their bodies suggested that they were able to transform into jet fighters- the pair were Decepticons.

"My friends," Cyrotek began, "While I understand that your travelling arrangements are not the…best of conditions, I hope the rest and energon you have been given has refreshed your resolve so that you are ready to overthrow the Autobots and retake the cosmos!"

"Your promises are all well and good, but that's all they are- promises!" Reptilion called to Cryotek. "If you wish for us to truly believe in you and your ideals, we could do with being informed of your plans. Tell us, how exactly do you plan to take the universe in the name of the Predacons?"

"An excellent question." Cryotek answered. "You deserve answers, so you shall get them…in due time. However, our first mission looms on the horizon. We are travelling to the prison asteroid, Justice-01."

"Justice-01?" Razorclaw echoed. "But that's where…"

"Yes," Cryotek announced, cutting off Razorclaw's sentence. "I believe, for us to boost our force's morale, and to send a clear message to our enemies, the Autobots, we should storm Justice-01 and release our former leader, Galvatron. We shall strike the prison without mercy, but with full aggression. We will make the Autobots rue the day they dared to imprison our glorious leader and force us to the shadows!"

A great cheer came from all those in the cargo hold, and Cryotek looked on with a broad smile. His words had the effect on his numbers that he had hoped for, and Cryotek now knew he had their full support. With such a large number under his command, Cryotek's confidence in his own plans began to swell more and more.

"You will all be briefed on your roles in our brothers' release later. But for now…Nemesis Prime and Razorclaw, join me up above. I wish to speak to you both personally. For the rest of you, to boost your fuel levels and spirits, I offer you more energon."

A large door at the head of the cargo hold slid open, and the masses of evil Transformers looked on to see a giant green and white robot, which was obviously comprised of five Predacons combined together. In his arms, the giant held thousands of energon cubes, and as Nemesis Prime and Razorclaw walked through the crowds and past the giant and out of the cargo hold, the giant Predacon combiner slowly lowered himself to a knee and softly placed the energon cubes in the cargo hold, where the Predacons and Decepticons greedily descended on the energon cubes like ants on a torn open sugar bag. The giant Predacon turned and stomped out of the cargo hold behind Nemesis Prime and Razorclaw, and the door slid shut behind them, the sounds of the eager Predacons and Decepticons shoving and pushing for more fuel.

"So, what do you think so far?" Razorclaw asked to Nemesis Prime while they strode through the corridors of the ship.

"Too early to tell," came the answer. "This Cryotek's done a lot for us already by destroying that pathetic politician, taking us aboard his ship and giving us his energon. But still, what does he want from us in return? Until we talk with him, I can't help but think he's sweetening us up for some reason- and it may not benefit us."

Eventually, the two Predacons made their way to the ship's control room. The door slid open, and the pair stepped inside, seeing Cryotek sitting upon a large elevated seat in the centre of the room, while Decepticons and Predacons sat at varied positions in the control room as they flew and controlled all aspects of the ship. All that is, except for one Decepticon, the same one of the pair who seemed to constantly accompany Cryotek wherever he went.

The heavy footsteps of the combined Predacon entering the room finally caught Cryotek's attention, and the Predacon looked over his shoulder, behind his large chair to see that his guests had arrived. With a smile, Cryotek stood from his seat, Chro still perched on his shoulder as he made his way down the many steps, leading to the floor. Once there, Cryotek immediately walked over to Razorclaw and Nemesis Prime, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Ah, I see God Neptune made sure you found your way here." Cryotek announced to the pair, before he looked behind them, and towards the large robot. "Well done, Predacon Sea Squad. Return to your posts!"

Nemesis Prime looked over his shoulder, back to the large God Neptune, whose gears began to whir. Within moments, the large body of God Neptune seemed to come apart, and the different body parts that comprised the giant combiner transformed into five separate Predacons, who simply walked back to their stations in acknowledgement of their leader.

"Predacon combiners…" Nemesis Prime said. "I thought only Autobots and Decepticons could manipulate such technology."

"Yes, there was a time that due to our beast modes, we were unable to use combiner tech." Cryotek announced. "But times have changed. I led the revolution in Predacon combiners, just as I am leading the way for a new universal order of the Predacons and Decepticons, and the both of you will play key roles in starting that new order."

"We're listening." Razorclaw replied with interest.

"Your roles during the war were greatly written in the Predacon data tracks." Cryotek explained. "Of all the Predacons and Decepticons I have liberated, you two are the best candidates to work with my own personal warriors to invade Justice-01. Your ruthlessness, power and brilliant fighting acumen will assure us our first victory."

"So what would you have us do?" Nemesis Prime asked.

Cryotek turned and walked back to the centre of the control room, ushering for Nemesis Prime and Razorclaw to follow him, which they did. A large screen was situated at the head of the room, where it currently showed the view of space that they were travelling through, but a quick press of a button on the remote Cryotek now held showed a birds' eye map of Justice-01, the prison asteroid.

"It is nothing fancy. On the contrary, it will be rather simple." Cryotek explained. "We are planning a full scale assault on the prison. Our sources show that the Decepticons and Predacons are located in the centre quadrant of the prison, which is the most secure. While the three Predacons currently imprisoned are in low level security cells, the Decepticon Commandos are all placed in separate higher security cells. My warriors will focus on releasing them, however, while you two shall work with my second in command on storming the very core of the prison to retrieve the real prize- Galvatron."

"Just who is your second?" Nemesis Prime asked curiously.

"I am!" A screechy voice called.

Nemesis Prime and Razorclaw looked to their left, seeing the same black and purple Decepticon, who now rested with his back against Cryotek's large control chair. The Decepticon walked towards the group, his footsteps were lighter than most as his build was on the smaller side. Still, the Decepticon carried an air of confidence that he knew that he could handle and conquer any situation put forth in front of him. He had no mouth, rather he had a faceplate shielding the lower half of his face, but his yellow robotic eyes revealed some kind of cocky grin. He stood before the small group, a thumb pointing to his own black chest, which was made up of a jet cockpit and nosecone.

"I am Starscream," the Decepticon announced. "Second in command, only to Cryotek. I have no problem working with new Predacons, so long as you two know your place and do not attempt to disobey my orders!"

"Starscream, calm yourself." Cryotek ordered. "As I was saying, you shall work exclusively with Starscream in freeing Galvatron from his high security prison. Speed and precision is needed in ensuring his release."

"And no one has more speed and precision than I!" Starscream cut in. "So, Nemesis Prime, make sure that your usual firepower and strength is replaced with the speed and guile that I believe victory lies with."

Nemesis Prime's red eyes surged with power for a moment, as he remained silent. But after a moment, he responded.

"I have no issues following your command, Starscream." Came the reply. "However, Cryotek, I ask that my unit also accompany us. I believe my unit will be useful to the mission."

"How dare you?" Starscream shrieked. "You have been given the honour of fighting under my command, and yet you insult me by asking for the rest of your Predacons to tag along? Never!"

"Silence!" Cryotek growled.

With a mighty thrust of his dragon arm, Cryotek slammed the dragonhead harshly into Starscream's chest, causing the Decepticon to stumble and fall to the ground. Shaking his head, Starscream looked up to Cryotek who glared at the jet for a moment, before a small grin met his subordinate.

"Your pride is admirable, Starscream, but I wish for this new extended army to have unity. If Nemesis Prime wishes to have his own personal unit accompany you, then I have no quarrel with it. Compromises must be made to strengthen the unity between us and our new army."

"Yes…sir." Starscream choked before he slowly rose to his feet.

"Very good." Cryotek replied.

"How do you propose we even get close to Justice-01?" Razorclaw asked. "It smells like a suicide mission. That prison is the most fortified prison in the galaxy, with enough firepower to destroy a planet! If they detect this ship coming from a mile away, they could destroy it easily."

"Do not fear, Razorclaw." Cryotek replied after softly petting the head of Chro, who stayed perched on his shoulder. "I have considered that, and I have taken steps to ensure that our arrival on the asteroid will be a surprise that the Autobot guards there won't soon forget."

"But how?" Razorclaw asked again.

"You will see in due time," Cryotek replied. He was about to continue his sentence, but a call from the front of the ship interrupted his train of thought.

"Sir!" A yellow Decepticon jet cried. "We are nearing Justice-01. ETA, 60 cycles!"

"Excellent, Thrust." Cryotek replied to the Decepticon, before he turned back to Razorclaw and Nemesis Prime. "It will not be long until our mission will be underway. For now, I suggest you take this time to rest, grab some energon and prep the rest of your group for your mission. The battle may be hard, but I guarantee we shall be triumphant! Come, I shall show you the way back to your comrades."

With his hands still on their shoulders, Cryotek led Nemesis Prime and Razorclaw from the control room. When the door slid shut behind them, Starscream, who had quietly been watching the group from the eastern side of the room, took his arm from his dented chest and looked to a large black Decepticon who was currently sat at a computer console. The Decepticon in question had been the one who also followed Cryotek like Starscream had.

"That blowhard," Starscream scowled over the shoulder of his larger comrade. "How dare he strike me? I will make him pay for that strike, and each time he has had the nerve to belittle me in front of the others. Me time is near, Dreadwing, I can feel it. My grasp on the crown is close, and when I take it, Cryotek will learn that he should never have crossed me…still; I didn't anticipate Cryotek's desire to free Galvatron from his imprisonment. That could prove bothersome, but I shall find a way to ensure he doesn't stand before my claim to leadership, either. We shall find a way, Dreadwing, and when I am leader, you will be my right hand Decepticon!"

The large Dreadwing was quiet for a moment, as his faceplate and visor made it so that his emotions and face were hard to read. As always, Dreadwing was silent, that is, until he uttered only one word to his friend.

"Roger."

Starscream took his attention away from the large Decepticon, and instead he looked towards the main screen at the head of the control room once again. He walked away from Dreadwing and headed towards the head of the room, where the majority of the ship's controls were, and therefore were the majority of the Decepticons and Predacons were stationed.

The screen had once again returned to the view of the ship's current course, and Starscream could see that in the endless blanket of darkness, a large, brightly lit asteroid was coming into view. The bottom half of the asteroid was a reddish brown colour, but the top side of the asteroid was covered in metal. A large building, which sat over the entire length and width of the top side shone brightly under large lights which illuminated the asteroid, while many large cannons and missile silos pointed up into space defensively, ready to fire in case of any threat against it. Starscream watched on to see a shuttle leave the surface of the asteroid- no doubt leaving after depositing a fresh load of galactic criminals.

"Prepare for battle, gentlemen," Starscream announced. "For soon, those Autobots will not know what's hit them!"

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Unaware of an approaching threat, it was business as usual on the prison asteroid known as Justice-01. With the Autobot forces being the champions of justice throughout the universe, Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader felt that the responsibility rested on their shoulders to create a high security prison for the galaxy's most dangerous criminals in a corner of the cosmos that was completely isolated. Escaping the prison was nigh on impossible, but its location, literally in the middle of nowhere meant that any lucky enough to escape the asteroid would soon be caught.

While the Autobots had created the asteroid, the Autobot presence on Justice-01 was actually not as strong as one might imagine. The complex was completely automated and controlled by an artificial intelligence known as T-AI 2, a replica of the Autobots' Tactical Artificial Intelligence computer. Security drones kept a watch on the prisoners and kept the peace within its four walls, while automated defences ensured that security on Justice-01 was kept at a maximum.

The system had worked exceptionally, but every so often, Optimus Prime would send a small Autobot force to Justice-01 to ensure that all was in order. It was during this time that saw Justice-01 saw another visit from an Autobot task force, led by Prowl, the Autobot High Speed Chaser, and resident law enforcer. Currently, the Autobot police car sat in the main control room of Justice-01, located at the top of a large tower which was situated towards the back of the prisons' main courtyard. Looking at many monitors in front of him, Prowl was hard at work viewing security logs made by T-AI 2 for every action made by the computer. At the same time, the Autobot was also keeping a personal eye on the security cameras to watch the goings on around the prison, which he would do every so often by turning around in his chair and looking at the wall of monitors right behind him. It was hard work, but Prowl was dedicated to ensuring that not one criminal, especially any Predacon or Decepticon was given a chance to escape.

Prowl was completely immersed in his work, and when he was, usually he was in a mindset which made it impossible to speak to him. However, the whooshing sound of the control room door opening broke Prowl's focus. With a frustrated sigh, Prowl turned his head slightly to his right, seeing a fellow Autobot walk into the room. With a soft looking face, which was crowned by a golden helmet, the female Autobot looked to Prowl with a slight look of surprise as she placed her black hands on her equally black metallic hips.

"You're in _still _in here?" The Autobot asked. "Jeez, Prowl, I had heard stories that when you got here, it seemed like you were glued to that chair, but I had to see it to believe it!"

"I don't understand why that surprises you." Prowl replied. "This prison is filled with the most dangerous and depraved scum the universe has ever known. You should consider that while you patrol these halls, Roulette. While we are stationed here, we cannot become lax in our duty."

"Prowl, I'm as dedicated as anybody to making sure that criminals get their just desserts." Roulette said, raising her hands in front of her chest. "You're just something else! Doesn't spending countless solar cycles at those monitors cause your hard drive to lag?"

Prowl sat back in his chair and fully looked over Roulette as he pressed his robotic fingertips together, noting in his mind, just like he did the first time they met how much Roulette looked like his younger brother, Side Burn. He had heard Roulette mention her dedication towards fighting evil, but every time he looked at her, he saw Side Burn, and if Prowl knew one thing about Side Burn, it was the fact he wasn't dedicated about anything but having fun and chasing red sports cars. He wondered if Roulette could be as wayward as his brother.

"Sometimes." Prowl simply stated. "But it's been months since I've last been here. Do you realise how many reports T-AI 2 has logged since I've been away? I need to go through each one meticulously so that I can leave Justice-01 satisfied, and so that I can tell Optimus Prime that everything here is in hand."

Roulette sighed and rested her back against the wall. She wanted to tell Prowl how uptight he was, and how much he seemed to rant on over a single question, but she knew it wasn't wise to say such things to her superior officer. Prowl looked at her for a moment and then silently turned back to the computers and carried on with his work.

"Where are Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Sideways?" Prowl asked, not taking his eyes off the next report scrolling up the screen.

"Sideways is preparing the shuttle for launch tomorrow." Roulette answered. "Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are patrolling the prison."

"Hm," Prowl murmured. "Patrolling, or making trouble?"

Prowl spun around in his seat and looked at the wall of security monitors, before Roulette watched the white Autobot throw his hands up in the air in frustration after his eyes rested on the monitor in the top right hand corner.

"I knew it!" He growled. "They're in the wing where the Decepticons and Galvatron are! Don't they know we have better things to do than antagonise our prisoners?"

Both Prowl and Roulette looked to the screen, watching as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe walked down the corridor of the prison wing. The two brothers walked with cocky strides, heads held high in the air as they walked past the Decepticon Commandos, each one shackled with magnetic cuffs and energy dampeners as they sat in their cells. They glared towards the two Autobots and shouted menacingly towards them, which only served to swell the two cocky Autobots' egos.

"Is this a prison for the galaxy's most wanted, or the galaxy's most ugly?" The yellow Autobot, Sunstreaker asked to his brother.

"I dunno." Sideswipe replied to Sunstreaker with a laugh as he placed an arm around his brother's shoulders. "What I do know is that it's a hall of losers!"

"Damn Autobots!" The tan coloured Decepticon tank, Armorhide called from his cell. "Why don't you step into this cell and say that, huh?"

"Yeah right," Sunstreaker sneered. "If I walked in there with you, I might get scraplets and then start to rust. Besides…you wouldn't last two minutes with me."

"They wouldn't dare face us," Mega-Octane, the largest of the Decepticons suddenly announced. "They know they would be sent to the scrap yard!"

"That's a laugh." Sideswipe grinned. "The way I see it, you're the ones on the scrap heap. Look at you all, just wasting away in here. If you guys were so good, then you wouldn't have fallen to Optimus Prime."

"Optimus Prime!" A voice venomously spat from his cell. "The day I get out of here will be his last."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked to their left, seeing a hulking black Decepticon sitting on the floor of his cell, as opposed to his bed. Like the others, he was bound in magnetic cuffs, but his were more reinforced than the others, due to his size. The black Decepticon who looked like a bulkier version of Optimus Prime was Scourge, Galvatron's former second in command, and the leader of the Decepticon Commandos.

"Scourge," Sideswipe began, "you aren't getting out. Ever."

"We shall see, Autobot." Scourge replied with narrowed red eyes. "We shall see."

Ignoring Scourge, the pair continued down the corridor, until they came to a large steel door, which stood before them. There was a hatch in the centre of the door, and the pair strode over to the door, stood either side of the hatch before Sunstreaker grabbed the handle to the hatch and pulled it back. The two Autobots peered through the hatch to see a large, white, purple and black Predacon. With large, dragon like wings on his back, the mighty looking Predacon stood in the center of the room, his ankles wrapped in chains that glowed with golden energy. His large arms were held out to his sides as the same chains were tightly wrapped around his wrists, which were connected to reinforced steel hooks on the walls either side of him. A final chain was wrapped around his waist and was hooked to the floor, with all the chains ensuring that he couldn't move. A large red disk was mounted on his chest, which surged with power, seemingly causing him to weakly stand, now only being held up by the chains that kept him prisoner.

"Hey, Galvatron!" Sideswipe cheerfully called in a mocking greeting. "How are things since we last left you? Do you know, it looks like you haven't even moved since we were last here!"

"Autobots…" Galvatron said in a soft, disgusting growl, before his drooped head slowly lifted, where burning eyes rested on the cell door.

"Well, at least he knows us." Sunstreaker replied with a smirk.

"Oh, I know you well." Galvatron weakly replied, "weaklings, undeserving of the planet with which you live on. You disgust me, and every time your ilk returns to this miserable rock, one of you idiots curses me with your presence. Damn you all."

"After all these years, we thought you'd like the company." Sideswipe replied. "Aw, come on, Galvy, don't be like that(!) We're becoming fond of coming and visiting you."

"Enjoy it while you can, Autobot fools." Galvatron growled. "Someday, somehow, I shall leave this pathetic pebble, and when I do, _you _shall be my first victim. I promise you, I shall tear you in half and serve you to a school of Sharkticons!"

"Hey, anytime you want to get out of that prison, feel free!" Sideswipe replied. "Sunstreaker and I will be more than happy to give you a worse beating than what Prime did, before we throw you right back in that cell!"

"Yeah, you just try it, Galvatron," Sunstreaker seconded. "You'll learn it's not a good idea to mess with the Autobot twins."

"Then someday I shall find you." Galvatron grumbled. "Ensure you don't place yourselves in any dangerous situations. I want the pleasure of handing you your demises- painfully, slowly and cruelly."

Galvatron growled once again when he heard Sunstreaker and Sideswipe simply respond with a loud, humour filled laugh. With a scraping sound, the two Autobots slide the hatch of the cell door shut, leaving Galvatron in the cold darkness of his prison once more. The former Predacon leader allowed his head to lower once more, and he sighed with exhaustion as the energy dampener imbedded in his chest plate only allowed him enough power to stay alive. Galvatron silently cursed the Autobots in his weakened state. He wished that Optimus Prime had killed him, or that he was given the penalty of death for his crimes. He would have rather died than live with the misery of being a prisoner to the Autobots, and one who was clinging to life by a thread. But, as much as he wished for his systems to have shut down long ago, the anger, which coursed through his circuitry, gave Galvatron the resolve to stay alive and not allow his weak systems to fall into stasis lock. The burning hatred he felt for his enemies allowed him to constantly think of a way to get out of his prison- anyway to leave Justice-01, just so that he could rip Optimus Prime's head off and turn it into his own personal trophy. Universal conquest didn't even seem to matter to Galvatron anymore.

After watching the twins' taunting of the Decepticons, Prowl once again turned away from the security monitors and shook his head with a sigh.

"I think when we get back to Cybertron, I'll request Optimus Prime doesn't send them here again." Prowl announced to Roulette. "I don't think they comprehend the magnitude of their responsibility. What do you think, Roulette? Roulette?"

Nothing but silence met Prowl's question, and this forced the Autobot to turn his attention off his reports once more. His head swung back and fourth, looking for his female subordinate, and he was surprised to see that Roulette had slipped from out of the office, without a mere sound.

"Some Autobots need to learn some manners." Prowl muttered to himself with annoyance.

Prowl looked back down at his reports, preparing to take in the information on the many screens before him, when suddenly, with a dying hum, the lights slowly faded out, and all screens in the control tower went blank. All was silent for a moment, until a cry of surprise from Prowl echoed in the control tower. After a few moments of darkness, a red light surged on, giving a soft glow to the control tower as a back up generator came online.

"What?" Prowl cried, before he rushed from his seat to another computer console. "T-AI 2, report."

On Prowl's command, a large metallic saucer hovered into the room. It stopped in front of Prowl and hovered some seven feet from the floor before a beam of light came from the bottom of the saucer, and as the light continued to glow, the form of a young girl materialised in front of the Autobot. Wearing a soft red uniform comprising of a jacket, skirt and hat, complete with a large Autobot insignia on the front, the brown haired girl's blue eyes opened before she looked up to Prowl.

"Prowl, the main power generators have failed. All power on Justice-01 is now being run by the emergency generator."

"What is the cause?" Prowl asked eagerly.

"Cause unknown right now," T-AI 2 reported. "I am already running a systems check to see if the failure is due to the software, of if it's a mechanical failure. However, please be advised, running Justice-01 on the emergency generator means we are running at less than 50% efficiency. Our external defences are offline, and many of the security drones are now offline."

"What about the cells and prisoners in them?" Prowl asked again, a wave of fear washing over his circuits.

"The prisoners are still secure. The majority of the power is focused on keeping them restrained and in their cells."

"Then all we need to do is hope the emergency generator doesn't fail." Prowl replied with a sigh. "…T-AI 2?"

Looking on, Prowl took a step forwards and reached out to the hologram, who flickered for a moment and then faded away. Once again, the lights went out in the control tower, and the holographic saucer than allowed T-AI 2 a physical representation dropped to the steel floor with a loud clang.

"What is going on?" Prowl cried in frustration and, if he was bold enough to admit, some fear.

But, as if to answer the Autobot's query, the thundering roar of an explosion suddenly pierced Prowl's robotic ears. An orange glow illuminated through the window of the control tower, followed by a powerful tremor, which exerted enough force to knock Prowl off his feet, where he landed in a heap beside T-AI 2's holographic saucer and before he could recover his wits enough to try and stand, another explosion caused the complex to shake violently again, and Prowl lay helpless on the floor with a grunt.

A pair of footsteps could be heard echoing behind the door leading into the control tower, and while Prowl finally managed to bring himself back to his knees, the door slid open and Roulette rushed back into the room gripped with panic.

"Prowl!" She cried, "It's the Predacons! They're attacking the prison!"

"What?" Prowl responded with shock.

Prowl lunged for the window, gripping the sill of it with his hands while he was still on his knees, and his optic sensors flickered with fear and disbelief. In the orbit of Justice-01, Predacons and Decepticons dropped towards the asteroid, their weapons firing as they went. The warriors that had already landed on Justice-01 were already preparing to break through the heavily reinforced steel walls that led from the courtyard into the prison.

"A Predacon and Decepticon uprising?" Prowl asked to himself. "Who organized this?"

"I…I don't know." Roulette replied as she grabbed her weapon, a missile-launching crossbow, from her back. "But it's time to show them why it is we beat them last time!"

"We've got problems, boss!" A voice cried from down the corridor.

Prowl looked through the open door to see Sunstreaker and Sideswipe rush into the control room, their optic sensors now emitting highly charged beams of light to illuminate their surroundings.

"Most of the power's out in the entire complex," Sideswipe continued. "The magnetic cuffs and electronic barriers inside the cells are out of commission!"

"Slag!" Prowl cursed. "The energy dampers are still functional though, yes?"

"Looks like it," Sunstreaker answered. "The Decepticons' cuffs are out of order, and they can now walk up to the cell doors if they wanted, but they still don't have the energy to move."

"That's something then." Roulette said with a sigh.

Just then, another rumble surged through the control tower, causing the Autobots to lose their footing and they stumbled about the large room for a moment, which was still in pitch black, save for the light coming from Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

"They're still trying to break through into the prison." Prowl noted. "We don't have any more time to waste. I need you three to travel to the cell block where the Decepticons and Galvatron are being held and ensure no Decepticons or Predacons make it through. I shall radio Sideways for support and see if I can get anything working up here."

"Sounds like a plan." Roulette announced. "Let's go, boys. Roulette, vehicle mode!"

"Sideswipe, vehicle mode!"

"Sunstreaker, vehicle mode!"

Before Prowl's eyes, Roulette, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker simultaneously began to shift and transform into their respective alternate modes- Roulette became a silver Dodge Viper, while Sideswipe and Sunstreaker transformed into modern Lamborghini's, red and yellow respectively. Their engines revved as violently as the explosions came from outside, and their wheels screeched before the three cars shot out of the control room as if they were shot out of a powerful cannon. Immediately, Prowl turned and activated his communicator as he attempted to contact the other Autobot on the asteroid.

"Prowl to Sideways, come in!"

"_I read you, Prowl." _The voice of Sideways replied through Prowl's internal radio.

"If you don't know, you're lucky…But we're under attack!" Prowl cried.

"_Copy that, Prowl." _Sideways noted. _"I didn't notice them until they started dropping in, but they haven't noticed me- or they're too focused to notice me. What's the situation your end?"_

"In a word, grim!" Prowl answered. "The power's out, meaning we've only got a few drones, as well as us to defend the prison. We're vastly outnumbered, and there's the potential of a serious jailbreak!"

"_I'll be there soon." _Sideways announced. _"I'm firing up the shuttle to give you some air support. I've already beamed an S.O.S. to Cybertron, not that it really matters right now."_

"Excellent. Get here as soon as you can to assist us." Prowl ordered. "See how many you can take out."

As he desperately pressed the many keys on the keyboard in front of him in a bid to try and contact T-AI 2, or even just get the power back at Justice-01, Prowl looked out of the window once more to see that the main forces of the Predacons and Decepticons had landed.

What he didn't notice however was that towards the rear of the prison, a small group of Predacons were dropping towards the prison, a fair distance away from the main force. With the Predacons, who were in robot mode, was a pair of black jets diving through the sky towards the prison, with their boosters propelling them down towards the prison at an aggressive rate. On the back of larger black stealth jet, the hulking figure of Nemesis Prime crouched as he looked towards the smaller jet fighter, Starscream flying at the head of the group, with Razorclaw, in his winged Tiger form flying alongside him.

"Remember our mission," Starscream announced to the group. "We leave the others to distract the forces of Justice-01, and we concentrate solely on releasing our imprisoned brethren."

"Roger." Dreadwing, the larger jet said in response.

"It is time to make our entrance, Nemesis Prime." Starscream said to the large Predacon through his radio. "Screamwinder missiles, fire!"

"Big Cannon!"

At the same time, a pair of missiles shot off from underneath Starscream's wings, while Nemesis Prime held his gigantic twin barrelled cannon towards the prison, which he fired- the force of which caused the large Dreadwing to shift slightly from his flight path. The large purple bolt of energy flew alongside the missiles, and the combined arsenal collided with the roof of the prison, with the resulting explosion tearing a hole through it in a shower of metal, brick and dust. In its wake now remained a large, burning hole, which allowed one of the many corridors to be exposed to the open air.

"This is it." Starscream said, "gentlemen, and lady, let's drop in!"

The Predacons, Reptilion, Repugnus, and Blackarachnia dropped from out of the sky and through the fiery hole as they infiltrated the prison. Razorclaw glided down into the prison, transforming back to his robotic form as he went, leaving Starscream, Dreadwing and Nemesis Prime still to get inside

At the moment Starscream prepared to transform to his own robotic form and drop through the hole himself, a powerful bolt of laser energy shot past him, scraping the very of his wing and sending him barrelling out of control for a moment in the sky.

"What?" Starscream shrieked.

Nemesis Prime turned on Dreadwing's back and looked, seeing a large space shuttle flying towards them. On the front of the white shuttle was a large, red Autobot insignia and as Nemesis Prime zoomed his electric eyes in on the windscreen of the shuttle, he could see Sideways piloting the shuttle alone.

"We've got an incoming Autobot shuttle," Nemesis Prime reported. "I'll finish it off with my Big Cannon!"

"I have a better idea," Starscream began. "Take your team and reach our goal. Dreadwing and I can take care of that glorified bucket."

Nemesis Prime pondered Starscream's suggestion for a moment as he continued to stand on the top of Dreadwing's jet form. Usually, when the Predacon warrior had been dealt a blow, no matter how hard or light, his first instinct was to attack the culprit without mercy, until the transgressor had been slain. However, today was different and he knew that the mission that had brought the Predacons and Decepticons to Justice-01 was more important than any person grievance he may have had with the Autobot occupying the shuttle. So, without another word, as Dreadwing continued to dive down towards the prison, the hulking Predacon used his powerful legs to spring his heavy frame from atop the jet before he disappeared through the hole made inside the prison to join his Predacon brethren.

Now feeling lighter as the burden he literally had on his back had disappeared, the large Decepticon jet, Dreadwing soared back up, higher into space with a scream coming from his engines. Climbing high into the sky, he joined Starscream in a side by side formation as they began a full on charge towards the Autobot shuttle. Seeing the two jets flying straight towards him, Sideways looked down at the control console before him, then his fingers began to erratically press the many different keys on the console as he gave his directions for what he wanted the shuttle to do. Immediately, as the two jets soared up and over Sideways' view from out of the ship's windscreen, the shuttle rocked violently back and fourth as it came under the heavy pelting of laser fire from the two Decepticons. The Autobot pilot braced himself as the ship continued to rock by grabbing the large computer in front of him, then, as the vibration inside the ship began to subside, Sideways hit one final button as the Decepticons back around for another attack, but it was their turn to come under fire as several orange balls of laser energy were thrown at the two Decepticons. Sideways watched on, before he gave a small cheer as he saw Starscream once again get clipped by a laser blast that caused him to collide with Dreadwing, which forced the pair into an uncontrollable dive towards the prison courtyard.

As the two Decepticons dropped, spinning out of the sky, Starscream let out an ear piercing shriek of fright. The Decepticon always felt the need to be in control of any given situation, and currently the situation he was in was not of his own doing. Quickly, Starscream transformed to his robot mode, but he continued to spin through the sky, until he collided violently with the rocky ground that made up the prison's terrain. Meanwhile, Dreadwing, who had only suffered due to the collision with his Decepticon partner was more able to control himself. Without saying a word, the larger of the pair transformed, but not as into his robot form; instead, the jet's shape shifted into that of a tank- albeit one with the characteristics of a large stealth jet. Landing on the ground, one large steel treads, the tank activated its back mounted cannon, causing to rise up into the sky while the Autobot shuttle audibly soared overhead.

Silently sitting on the rocky ground, the Decepticon tank patiently waited as the shuttle passed over he and the dazed Starscream, then as the ship's thrusters appeared in view, the cannon raised itself a little more, before then, with a flash of red roaring from the rear of its cannon, a large missile shot off from inside the cannon. Within seconds, the missile zoomed up into the sky, and as Dreadwing looked on, he watched the missile collide with the tail end of Sideways' ship. In a large fireball that came from the explosion, the shuttle became engulfed in thick, black smoke; large chunks of metal began to rain down from the sky in a twisted change of weather. This explosion rocked the ship violently, with such force that Sideways was thrown from one side of the command deck of the shuttle to the other, also in part due to the face that Dreadwing's attack had taken him by surprise. Sirens began to blare through the command deck of the ship, while the white lights that had given the deck a bright glow now turned to a dark red over intermittent periods in tune with the emergency siren that blared through the ship.

Knocked into a daze, Sideways lay upside down against a large chair in the center of the command deck that was reserved for the ship's captain. But, with the continuous drone of the sirens in the deck, Sideways slid his lower body down from the side of the chair, before he shakily rose back to his feet, only to be knocked once again by the ship's sudden change in direction as its front began to dip forwards. Panic flushed through Sideways' circuits, but the Autobot refused to allow it to show; instead he stumbled across the deck of the ship before he jumped at the control console once again to attempt to take control of the ship once more. He grabbed the two large joysticks in the center of the console, and with a fierce tug, he pulled the joysticks back in an attempt to pull the ship's nose back up into the air as it continued to drop down towards the prison. Within seconds, he found that his efforts were in vain as the landscape of the ground before him continued to get closer and closer by the second. A quick check of a screen to his left also showed what was already obvious as the ship's engines were destroyed.

He found that he had two options- one was to continue to try and control the ship in hopes of gliding it to a somewhat safe landing, or cut his losses and abandon the ship entirely. It was a quick decision to make as the Autobot scout raised his left arm, which housed his powerful laser cannon. Shooting a blast from his cannon at the windshield, the glass immediately shattered from the resulting explosion, where it immediately sucked from the interior of the command deck like a vacuum, much like Sideways himself, who tumbled helpless through the hole in the front of the room. He felt himself violently pushed from the shuttle after the vacuum expelled him from the craft with a hard tug, and he found himself tumbling to the ground, much like Starscream and Dreadwing found themselves doing earlier. With a less than gracious landing, Sideways collided with rocky ground on his side, with the resulting momentum of his fall forcing him to roll over and over against the ground, with the merciless rocky terrain shredding the yellow armour from his arms, as well as the sides of his torso.

Still, despite the battering that he took, Sideways rose to his feet as a loud whine cut through the sky. Rising his head, Sideways once again felt a rush flow through him as he realized that the shuttle continued to make its way to the ground and without a second thought, the Autobot quickly ran from his position on the ground. With his feet rapidly slamming against the ground, which in turn pushed him further and further away from his original position, once he was satisfied that he could be out of harms way, he skidded to a halt, only to turn around to see the shuttle's fate; one that sent a chill through his chassis. He stood watching, helpless as the shuttle finally dropped fully out of the sky, where, nose first, the shuttle collided with the west wing of the prison. With an impact so violent that it shook the entire asteroid, Sideways was once again thrown from his feet, still watching on as a giant fireball spewed from the large hole created by the shuttle tearing through the western wall of the prison while an ear splitting explosion rumbled up into space. In a panic, Sideways activated his radio.

"Prowl? Prowl? Come in, Prowl!"

There was no response. Instead, Sideways' radio simply emitted a collection of static that caused him to growl in frustration. He tried again.

"Sideways to Prowl, come in...Sunstreaker? Sideswipe? Roulette. Anybody please, respond!"

Still gripped with worry for his friends, Sideways listened to his radio emit static once more. With a grunt s his frustration continued to build, Sideways prepared to make a move for the heavily damaged prison, in an attempt to find out first hand what had become of the Autobots inside. A voice called from behind him, which soon put a stop to his plans.

"_I'd concentrate on worrying about yourself first."_


	3. Ep3 Jailbreak!

**_Episode 3- Jailbreak!_**

**Chapter 1**

Meanwhile, inside the prison, unknown to Sideways, the remainder of the Autobot crew was very much alive. Unfortunately however they, much like their Predacon and Decepticon enemies, had been thrown every which way through the corridors and cells of the prison due to the impact of the Autobot shuttle. The explosion that Sideways had seen from outside had torn through a great portion of the building, destroying the infrastructure completely. Security drones had been destroyed by the hundreds, while many Predacons and Decepticons immediately lost their lives in the fireball that had made its way through a great portion of the prison. It was a scenario that the Autobots found themselves thankful for, as it had given them a small window of time to regroup and better prepare for the surge that their enemies had made on them. Currently, as Prowl made his way from the control tower, now giving up hope at getting the prison's power back online, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stood at one end of a long corridor, before a heavily reinforced door that led to the Decepticon Commandos and Galvatron's respective cells. From the darkness of the corridor, the twins could the audible approach of their recovering enemies who began to charge towards them.

"Was that Sideways?" Sunstreaker asked to Sideswipe, referring to a garbled radio message.

"Yeah, but by the sound of the scream he just made, it doesn't sound good."

"Scrap." Sunstreaker grumbled. "Where are Prowl and Roulette? We need them here!"

"Dunno," Sideswipe replied. "But don't worry about them right now. We need to get the welcome wagon ready for the goon squad...Here they come!"

With the power fully out after the Autobot shuttle crashed into the prison, the interior of the prison had been shrouded in darkness; but thanks to their robotic infrared sight, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker could see as the Predacon group that comprised of Reptilion, Blackarachnia, Repugnus, Razorclaw and Nemesis Prime quickly entered through the door and into the corridor. Unfortunately for the Autobot twins however, the Predacon group saw them in the fashion, and before the Autobots could make their move, the Predacons quickly opened fire upon the two Autobots.

Seeing the lasers and warheads flying for them, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker crouched towards the floor and now close together, the pair raised their barrier shields up over their bodies to protect themselves from the Predacons opening barrage. Immediately, any of the Predacons weapons fire that struck the twins was deflected by their shields, which seemed to radiate with energy as it absorbed the blows made by the Predacons' attack before the twins rose within a second of the barrage ending. They then retaliated by firing their own weapons back in retaliation at the Predacons; Sideswipe fired a missile from his wrist mounted missile launcher, while Sunstreaker allowed a burst of flame to fly from his own wrist mounted flame thrower. However, like the Autobot twins, the Predacons had their own defense, which came in the form of the hulking bruter, Nemesis Prime as the commander stepped before his entire group and turned his back to the Autobots, exposing his broad, heavily armoured back to the merciless attack from the Autobots. The missile pounded against Nemesis Prime's upper back, forcing him to stumble slightly forwards and the Predacon growled as the flames flicked against his armour.

"We can keep this up all night, y'know!" Sideswipe jeered as he fired his remaining missile. "Will you be able to take it all night, huh?"

"He won't need to." Razorclaw said in response. "Blackarachnia, let's make our move...Beast mode!"

With a roar, Razorclaw's robotic body quickly transformed back into his feral form- that of a ferocious winged tiger. Quickly, the giant, metallic beast leaped over the large Nemesis Prime as Razorclaw then landed on the floor and took off into a charge towards the two Autobots. They immediately changed their target, preparing to fire on Razorclaw to prevent him from approaching any further, but as Sideswipe lowered his laser blaster towards the tiger, he felt a force tug at his blaster which snatched it out of his hand.

"Hey!" Sideswipe called in alarm.

He raised his head to follow where his blaster had been dragged away to, seeing that a giant robotic spider now hung, upside down from the ceiling. With a long trail of webbing leading from her, Blackarachnia had caught Sideswipe's blaster and wrested it from his grip. But, before he could do anything about it, Sideswipe cried out in fury as the powerful Razorclaw tackled him to the ground. Looking in shock, Sunstreaker quickly turned his flamethrower- that had continued to stream fire from it- towards Razorclaw, causing the tiger to roar in protest. Immediately however, Reptilion came to his comrade's aid as he transformed to his own beast form- that of a giant, robotic lizard.

"Taste a gastric missile, Autobot!"

With that being said, Reptilion opened his large mouth as wide as he could. Then, with the large scales on his back shaking back and fourth in a strange ceremony, a green missile immediately rocketed out from his gullet where it quickly collided with Sunstreaker. The yellow Autobot twin was immediately thrown against the wall he stood near as a large, smoking wound was now marked in his stomach. Reptilion watched Sunstreaker slide down the wall, unconscious. He then looked to Sideswipe, seeing that he had been restrained by a combined effort by Blackarachnia and Razorclaw, who had forced Sideswipe against the opposite wall, while Blackarachnia imprisoned him in an energy web, leaving Sideswipe pinned up and helpless, giving the Predacons a clear path to their goal.

"Galvatron is just behind that door." Razorclaw announced after transforming.

"Right." Nemesis Prime agreed. "Then we are close to what we came for. Let us now release our great leader."

Now finding himself at the head of the group, Repugnus was quickly able to override the security coded lock that was on the door. A green light shone on the lock to the door, and with a click, the door swung open slightly and Repugnus, with a small cackle pushed the door open fully. Feeling victory close at hand, the Predacons prepared to move through the open door and into the cell block. However, a voice called out, stopping them in their tracks.

"Halt, Predacons!"

The Predacon group turned their heads quickly, shocked to hear that somebody else had entered the corridor that they also occupied. The group laid their eyes on the person in the corridor with them and Nemesis Prime's red eyes surged upon seeing that Prowl stood, alone but undaunted in the face of his Predacon enemies.

"That door is beyond your jurisdiction," Prowl informed the Predacons. "Get away from it now, or I'll be force to exert deadly force."

The comment made Nemesis Prime chuckle. He stepped towards Prowl, and away from his Predacon group who were in the threshold of the door. Now standing before Prowl, the large Predacon looked down at his enemy with the height comparison in favour of Nemesis Prime being considerable.

"Exert deadly force, officer?" Nemesis Prime asked. "Really? Then perhaps you would wish to exert that force on me."

"If I must..." Prowl replied as he raised his twin barreled fusion cannon.

"Then while my friends break out our leader, I shall have the pleasure of showing you what deadly force is. Defend yourself!"

While Nemesis Prime half expected his Autobot foe to attack, he didn't expect such an all out, blatant attack as the white Autobot immediately charged at the much larger Predacon. Undaunted, Prowl carried out his attack, slamming his right shoulder into the Predacon's metallic stomach with as much force as he could muster, but unfortunately, it only served to create a loud clunking sound of metal hitting metal as Prowl collided with Nemesis Prime. The large Predacon stumbled back slightly, but he was neither stunned, nor had he been taken over by Prowl's attack. Still, the Autobot officer, determined not to allow his hulking enemy a moment's respite quickly rushed at him once again, then the two came together as they locked up into a grapple. Prowl let out a loud grunt as he lurched his body forwards, placing all his weight against Nemesis Prime in an attempt to try and force his enemy to relent, but instead, Nemesis Prime simply chuckled as his eyes began to glow red once more. Confident, the large Predacon didn't feel the need to allow the battle to continue for much longer, so he wrestled his right arm away from Prowl, breaking the grapple as he then took his large hand and wrapped it around Prowl's robotic throat. With a tight grip that caused Prowl to hack slightly from the pressure, Nemesis Prime ripped Prowl away from him with only one hand only to slam Prowl up against the wall to their right.

"Surely you didn't think this fight would last long." Nemesis Prime chuckled. "I have the power to crush your chassis like tinfoil."

Prowl said nothing in response. With Nemesis Prime's vice like grip continuing to tighten around his throat, Prowl could only focus his energies on his next move, which he quickly made as he raised his right arm that held his twin barreled fusion cannon. On a mental command from Prowl, the two barrels of the cannon roared into life as two streams of flames of unimaginable heat spewed out in a continuous stream. Now resembling a blade, Prowl thrust his right arm up into the air, where the blade of fire collided with Nemesis Prime's wrist, causing the Predacon to let out a cry of pain as he dropped Prowl to the ground, then he gripped his wrist tightly, with the armour now white hot and threatening to turn to molten metal from Prowl's attack.

Still not wanting to relent and keeping his fusion flames on a constant stream, Prowl lunged at Nemesis Prime again as he attempted a swipe for Nemesis Prime's chest, or more specifically, his red spark crystal that was housed in the very center of it. It was a shame for Prowl then, that his attack was betrayed by his highly predictable strategy, and his enemy quickly weaved out the attacker's way with a side step which caused Prowl to stumble towards the now open door that led to the cell block.

"You wish to enlist weapons into our battle?" Nemesis Prime asked as he took a heavy object from his back. "Then I shall be happy to oblige you. _Big cannon!_"

Finally able to control his stumbling legs, Prowl stopped himself from falling into the cell block. But as he raised his upper body that had been lurched forwards, panic flowed through him as he saw the dark corridor become illuminated by a bright purple light. Quickly turning around, Prowl's robotic eyes widened following the sound of a roaring laser cannon, to see a thick beam of purple energy darting towards him. With white energy also crackling around the outside of the beam, Prowl swiftly raised his barrier shield in an attempt to protect himself from the blast that he was unable to dodge. The powerful beam of light collided with Prowl's barrier shield, immediately causing the white shield to shatter before him. With white shards flying away from Prowl's forearm, the Autobot immediately let out a scream of pain as the beam continued on its course, tearing a hole through his forearm, where it continued through the other side as it then carved itself a new path through Prowl's chest plate. With a force that Prowl had not felt since being attacked by the Decepticon combiner, Ruination, the Autobot was flung into the air as the impact of the big cannon's blast tore through his chest. Metal flew in all directions as smoke began to billow from the large wound in Prowl's chest, and Prowl collided to the floor with a thud. Motionless, Prowl lay, now presumed dead by Nemesis Prime who watched as sparks danced across Prowl's damaged chest. Then, as he watched the final glow of light slip away from Prowl's electrical eyes, Nemesis Prime placed his big cannon onto his back once more and walked over fallen Autobot.

Indifferent to Prowl's fate, Nemesis Prime continued on his way as he walked into the cell block. Using his infrared vision, he could see that the energy bars that blocked the Decepticon Commandos from exiting their cell had disappeared due the prison suffering a power failure. But, while their path was actually clear, the magnetic cuffs that still adorned their wrists, along with the energy dampeners on them made it impossible for them to move. Instead, each commando simply sat in their barless cell to see Nemesis Prime stride past them. Each of the commandos attempted to get his attention, all of them that is, except Scourge, who simply sat silent, with his head bowed; something had gone unnoticed by Nemesis Prime who simply ignored all six of them and followed the corridor through the reinforced door of Galvatron's cell that had been opened by Repugnus much in the same way he had opened the last door. Passing through the final door that contained his objective, Nemesis Prime saw Galvatron, still anchored to the ground, while his arms were still restrained. His head, still bowed was a sorry sight that caused Nemesis Prime to become irritated that his unit had yet to release their leader from such a humiliating scenario and immediately, he looked to Repugnus, who stood inspecting Galvatron's chest plate.

"I expected him to be freed by the time I walked in." Nemesis Prime announced, clutching his right hand into a fist. "What is going on?"

"I need to get this energy dampener from his chest before I release him." Repugnus explained. "I don't wish for him to collapse in a more weakened state than he is in now."

Nemesis Prime folded his arms, unamused by the delay when a groan came from the still being in the center of the room. Slowly, with a continuous groan, the head of Galvatron rose half way from off his chest plate. His red optics, that pulsed weakly with light looked down at Repugnus who examined his chest.

"Who are you?" Galvatron asked, almost in a whisper.

"We are some of your loyal subjects." Razorclaw announced. "We are here to free you."

"He doesn't look like he can survive much longer..." Blackarachnia tensely said, looking to Repugnus. "Hurry up!"

"Give me time!" Repugnus snapped back. "This is a delicate operation. You can't just rip this thing off, it's clamped to his spark. I just need a few more moments, and-...Ah. I have it."

With a loud click, the clamped device that was locked on to Galvatron's chest suddenly relented as the stiff claws on the outside of it quickly slackened. The light that pulsed warmly had suddenly gone black before it then dropped from Galvatron's chest, where it crashed to the ground with an extended echo. As the echo faded away, Galvatron groaned once again, but with each passing second the Predacons could hear the strength return to his voice. While not back to his former glory, the Predacons were relieved, based on the sound of his voice, that he would escape death.

"Get those shackles off him." Nemesis Prime ordered.

Quickly, Repugnus transformed to his alternate mode of the twisted amalgamated form of a lizard/praying mantis creature. With the mantis' sharp claws, Repugnus raised his right claw before thrusting it down against the large metallic cuff that wrapped around Galvatron's right wrist that connected it to the energy chain. The cuff dropped with a thud to the ground, then Repugnus made quick work of the left cuff in the very same fashion. He was about to tackle the shackles around Galvatron's ankles, but quickly transforming to his own beast form, Reptilion quickly broke Galvatron's ankles loose from their bonds by whipping his metallic tail into them one at a time where they shattered as if they were glass.

With a groan, Galvatron lost his balance where he threatened to fall face first to the ground. Razorclaw, wishing to save the leader he believed in from such an indignity quickly stepped forwards and placed his right arm out underneath Galvatron's chest. Galvatron's chest collided with Razorclaw's forearm, then Razorclaw repositioned himself and slipped Galvatron's arm around his own shoulders to hold him up. Blackarachnia did the same on Galvatron's other side, and the two now took their leader's full weight as he continued to recover his wits. Seeing Galvatron now successfully freed from his bonds, Nemesis Prime quickly activated his internal radio to speak to the crew aboard the Predacon and Decepticon ship.

"This is Nemesis Prime," he began. "Our objective is complete.,we have freed Galvatron."

"Excellent work!" Cryotek called back over the radio. "Quickly, bring him back to the ship with you. All forces, fall back immediately; let nothing impede your return."

Nemesis Prime deactivated his communicator, then he turned on his heel. Walking out of the door, Nemesis Prime led the Predacon group who followed their squad commander, with Galvatron still carried between Blackarachnia and Razorclaw. Reptilion and Repugnus stayed in their beast forms, with Repugnus fluttering his mantis wings to fly out of the cell. Reptilion followed behind as he skittered out on ll fours, and as the Predacons walked into the cell block that the weakened Deception commandos sat in, they looked to the Predacon group with surprise to see them as they carried Galvatron form out of his cell. Immediately, Mega-Octane called to the Predacons to get their attention.

"Wait. Release us next."

Nemesis Prime simply ignored Mega-Octane's plea as he continued walking past the cells, with his fellow Predacons still walking behind.

"Are you guys deaf?" The shuttle, known as Movor asked. "Get us out of here and take us with you."

In reaction to Movor's more abrasive tone, Razorclaw stopped in his walk, causing Blackarachnia to stop also. Looking to Movor, Razorclaw regretfully looked towards the white Decepticon.

"Our employer wants nothing to impede our movements. Staying to release you would be doing just that."

And with that, Razorclaw and Blackarachnia began to walk again with Galvatron between them. The Decepticon commandos continued to sit in their cells, now not able to believe what they had heard. Desperately, Rollbar looked to Repugnus and Reptilion as he called out to them, causing the two Predacons to stop and listen, with Reptilion sitting on the cell floor in his beast mode.

"Wait a minute," he began. "You mean to tell me you ain't gonna spring us out? We're with Galvatron!"

"You weren't part of the deal." Reptilion announced. "It don't matter if you were with Galvatron or not, you'll just have to wait for someone else to come back for ya, or something. Sorry about your bad luck."

"Damn you Predacons!" Mega-Octane called out. "You'll pay for this!"

"How do you figure that will happen?" Rotor, the blue Decepticon helicopter asked with sarcasm in his voice. "They're getting away."

"Like you have any ideas." Armorhide spat angrily as the Predacons left the cell block.

"Shut your mouth, you fools!" Scourge finally hissed. "It matters not if those miserable Predacons leave us here or not. With this prison now disabled, we shall make our escape."

"You got a plan?" Rollbar asked.

"I _always _have a plan..."

Scourge's words were left unheard by the Predacons who had since left the Decepticon Commandos to their own devices. Galvatron allowed himself to be carried by Blackarachnia and Razorclaw, which was an act that he normally would not have allowed to happen, for he was the Predacon leader; to actually allow someone to help him in such a way was what he considered to be weakness. However in his weakened state, he knew it was the wisest option, but then, as the Predacons continued on their way, Galvatron noticed the three Autobots Prowl, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe either stunned or unconscious in the corridor. Upon seeing them, Galvatron felt a surge of anger run through him and his optic sensors surged with energy for a moment, flaring up much like the disdian that he currently felt for the Autobots.

"Halt." Galvatron softly announced.

"We can't, my lord." Blackarachnia said in reply. "We need to get you back to our ship quickly."

"I said halt!" Galvatron roared.

Galvatron's cry was so loud that his Predacon rescuers quickly stopped in their movements, where they looked to see Galvatron jerk the left side of his body to shove Blackarachnia away. With a grumble of effort, Galvatron then took his arm from around Razorclaw's shoulders, who quickly allowed Galvatron to stand under his own power as their leader stumbled slightly. Then, turning his attention over to the Autobots, his optic sensors once again flashed with power.

"Galvatron, our orders are quite clear," Nemesis Prime began. "We're to return to our craft now."

"Fools!" Galvatron weakly snapped. "I am your leader- any orders you may have been given are moot when compared to my wishes!"

"He has a point." Reptilion spoke.

The Predacons stood in silence around Galvatron, who now seemed to completely ignore them as if they were no longer there with them. Instead, his attention was focused squarely on the fallen Autobots around them. Scanning them, Galvatron looked to see that Prowl was near dead, if not dead from his earlier wounds. Sideswipe was incapacitated up in Blackarachnia's webbing, so as his eyes fell upon Sunstreaker, who was now starting to stir on the floor as he began to come to, Galvatron saw his target. Slowly, Galvatron walked up to Sunstreaker, and simply stood over him in silence for a few moments as the Autobot continued to come around. Then, as Sunstreaker moved his head to see Galvatron standing above him, Galvatron placed his right foot into Sunstreaker's chest; the pressure from Galvatron's foot quickly pinned Sunstreaker down to the floor, but despite Galvatron's weakened state, Sunstreaker's own wounds meant that he was just as weak, if not weaker than his assailant.

"Now, Autobot," Galvatron began. "I believe when I lat saw you, I warned you that the day I walked free from my cell would be your last..."

"Heh. Big bad tin can." Sunstreaker groaned underneath Galvatron's weight. "You don't scare me."

"Oh?" Galvatron asked quietly. "Then perhaps you need to be educated."

Galvatron looked down at the prone Sunstreaker, wondering how the most effective way would be to make his enemy pay for the attitude he had made Galvatron suffer through earlier. Then, as his eyes rested on the large wound in Sunstreaker's stomach, Galvatron found his target. Immediately, he dropped to a knee and in one, swift motion, Galvatron took his right hand where he swiped it up the wound in Sunstreaker's stomach. Using the sharp claws on the end of his metallic fingers, Galvatron was able to administer a large cut up Sunstreaker's front by using his stomach as a starting point, and within moments, Sunstreaker's scream pierced through corridor of the prison as Sunstreaker's armour peeled away like a banana skin.

Now with access to Sunstreaker's innards, Galvatron tore the gash in Sunstreaker's body wider to fully expose his insides to the air, then he found what he was looking for. Encased in a circular, open metallic structure, Galvatron saw a white orb of energy, that was so bright that it illuminated up the dark corridor somewhat. As the orb of energy pulsed with power, Galvatron said nothing, but he quickly reached out to the orb, then he wrapped his claws around the metallic casing that surrounded it. As he did, the metallic structure buckled under Galvatron's grip, and the structure began to press into the orb of energy in Sunstreaker's chest which forced it to pulse at a more rapid pace as crackles of energy that resembled lighting began to dance around inside Sunstreaker, who let out a piercing scream.

"They say that ripping out one's spark is the most painful death there is." Galvatron said to a suffering Sunstreaker. "Let's see about that, shall we?"

Sunstreaker continued to scream while under such pain; a pain he had never experienced before. Cruelly, and without mercy, Galvatron kept his grip tight on Sunstreaker's spark for a few moments longer, then while the Autobot underneath him began to writhe violently on the ground as if having a seizure from the torture, Galvatron finally pulled his arm backward in a powerful display. Sparks flew from Sunstreaker's interior workings as Galvatron ripped Sunstreaker's spark chamber clean from his chest, with the sound of snapping cables echoing in the corridor. As Galvatron then began weakly rise back to his feet, Sunstreaker fell silent and became motionless. He was dead.

But, with the sweet victory from inflicting his own personal vengeance on one of his enemies, Galvatron soon encountered a problem. The second he had stood fully back up onto his feet, he found that his sense of hearing had disappeared. He let out a groan as his gyroscopic system began to fail, causing the Predacon leader to feel faint on his feet. Finally, static began to cloud over his sight, and the Predacons looked on in shock to see Galvatron stumble, then fall backwards; with his strength fully leaving his body, the Predacons were horrified to see Galvatron begin to drop the spark.

"Don't let it fall to the ground!" Repugnus cried. "It will explode, and take us with it!"

Blackarachnia quickly acted. In her robot mode, she threw her left arm out towards the falling spark, still encased inside its metal chamber. Flying her wrist came a blue, pulsating line of energy webbing that shot out towards the spark chamber, where it snapped on to one of the top edges of the spark chamber; with a snap of her wrist, Blackarachnia stopped the spark chamber from hitting the ground, where it instead landed safely in her hands. Razorclaw, who had caught Galvatron a second before Blackarachnia caught the spark, was relieved by her actions, as were Reptilion and Repugnus. However, if Nemesis Prime was concerned by the possibility of impending doom, he did little to convey it in his body language.

"Well done." said Nemesis Prime. "Now, if we are finished here, perhaps we can be on our way. _Big Cannon!_"

Once again, Nemesis Prime snatched the large cannon that was holstered on his back, where he then pointed it at the same wall which Sideswipe was webbed to. Holding the heavy looking cannon with an ease that would amaze most, Nemesis Prime took a step back as the powerful cannon roared into life, spewing another colossal beam of purple laser energy towards the wall. The blast hit the wall, and immediately ran straight through it with no difficulty at all, opening a large, gaping hole through the wall following a large explosion as shrapnel and smoke flew at the Predacons, who shielded themselves from any potential damage. Then, as the smoke cleared, the group quickly followed Nemesis Prime's lead by rushing through the giant hole left in the wall, allowing them access to outside the prison.

"What about the Autobot on the wall?" Reptilion asked, referring to Sideswipe.

"We shall let him live with the knowledge that two of his fellow Autobots have met their maker." Nemesis Prime coldly replied.

"How do you know the white one is dead?" Blackarachnia asked.

"No one survives the big cannon..." Nemesis Prime answered.

By now the sounds of warfare had long since silenced as the battle had passed. Looking around while they retreated from the prison, Nemesis Prime's crew could see that what was left of Justice-01 was not much than a now burned down, derelict complex. Much of the prison's structure had been destroyed, leaving only the beams, girders and foundations limply standing fully exposed following the chaos. As smoke rose up from the remains of the prison, the group watched as many Predacons and Decepticons were taking up into the air, towards the large ship that now loomed over the asteroid. Saying nothing, Nemesis Prime used his heavy legs to propel him up into the air as he took off in flight, ascending back up towards Cyrotek's ship. Following him one by one, Blackarachnia, followed by Repugnus still his beast mode, then Razorclaw who was still carrying Galvatron made their way up into the air towards the ship. Finally, Reptilion transformed back into his robot mode before he too followed his comrades up towards the ship, which floated in the same spot up in space. Approaching the ship, it became clear that a large hatch was open on the undercarriage of the ship to grant them access back into the ship, and one by one, the group by Nemesis Prime flew through the hatch, following a short tunnel that ended on one of the many corridors of the ship's interior. Nemesis Prime waited as each Predacon landed in the corridor, then the group looked at each other, seeing that everyone from their group was accounted for.

"Mission accomplished." Nemesis Prime announced, as his raised his fist into the air.

"Indeed it is," the voice of Cryotek was then heard.

Turning, Nemesis Prime saw Cryotek appear from around a corner of the corridor. With a smile of triumph on his face, and Chro perched on his left shoulder, Cryotek approached the small Predacon group to see that Razorclaw still propped Galvatron up. The sight of Galvatron, however, caused Cryotek to frown slightly as grumble left his synthesizer.

"What has become of Galvatron?" Cryotek asked.

"I believe he depleted the remained of his energy." Repugnus explained, still in his beast form. "He demanded that we didn't leave until we exacted his revenge on an Autobot in the prison."

"Too bad slaying the Autobot took it out of him," Blackarachnia noted. "Still, he did manage to give me a nice little gift."

Blackarachnia was of course referring to Sunstreaker's spark, which she continued to hold in her hands. Still encased in the spark chamber, she looked at the spark, much like a human might do with a beautiful diamond of the same size. However, her pleasure in Sunstreaker's spark was dismissed by Cyrotek who looked to Nemesis Prime with disappointment and frustration.

"Your orders were to bring Galvatron back to me immediately."

"But Galvatron's orders were for us to wait while he destroyed the Autobot." Nemesis Prime answered. "He is our leader; his word is our law."

"I am your benefactor." Cryotek replied. "While a lot of what I have given you is out of pure camaraderie, I expect results in return when I set you a task. Galvatron's orders mean nothing until he is fully fit to lead us. Is that understood?"

"Yes...sir." Nemesis Prime acknowledged with now narrowed optics.

"As long as that is made clear." Cryotek then said with a nod as Dreadwing now appeared behind Cryotek. He looked to the Decepticon jet for a moment, then he turned back to the Predacon group.

"Your mission is now completed, and despite Galvatron's state, it was done well," he said. "Dreadwing shall take Galvatron from you, and take him to our infirmary. You should reward yourselves with as much energon as you wish."

With that, Dreadwing stepped from behind Cryotek, then he strode over to the Predacon group, with each one of his heavy footsteps sending a large, ominous echo through the corridor as the Predacons looked to Dreadwing in silence. As tall as he was wide, Dreadwing stood taller than all of the Predacons, including Nemesis Prime whom he had a few feet on. Saying nothing, Dreadwing held out his right arm towards Razorclaw, who continued to hold Galvatron's prone body in his arms. Razorclaw looked to Nemesis Prime who, after looking at Dreadwing and Cryotek for a few moments more then looked to Razorclaw with a nod. Razorclaw then carefully moved Galvatron towards Dreadwing, who wrapped his right arm around Galvatron's torso and lifted him fully off the ground, holding the Predacon leader as a child might with a stuffed toy. Dreadwing then turned and walked away from the Predacons, then past Cryotek. The blue Predacon was about to follow the Decepticon back down the corridor, but a call from Razorclaw caught his attention.

"Wait," he called. "Now that we have Galvatron back, what do the rest of your plans entail?"

"That is none of your concern right now." Cryotek replied as he walked.

"We have entrusted ourselves to you," Nemesis Prime then spoke. "This small group of Predacons are directly under my command, therefore I am responsible for them. I demand to know what we are to expect in the coming days. This ship is now moving- I demand to know where."

"Right now all you and your group need to know is that I expect nothing of you- for now." Cryotek announced as he looked over his shoulder to the Predacons. "My main focus right now is moving my ship as far away from here as possible, so that no Autobots try to engage us and take Galvatron back. You should rejoice, our leader is back with us! Once he is in a stable condition, the next phase of my plan can begin."

With nothing more to say, Cryotek quickly turned the corner in the corridor and walked away so that he could catch up with Dreadwing.

A sense of frustration and concern now hung in the air as the Predacons looked at each other, before Nemesis Prime then turned and walked down the opposite end of the corridor. His group quickly followed behind him, with Razorclaw at the large Predacon's side.

"What do you think of all of that?" Razorclaw asked.

"I reserve judgment right now." Nemesis Prime answered. "What he chooses to do next will allow me to form a full opinion. Then I shall decide what to do about this scenario."

"Galvatron is our leader," Razorclaw pointed out. "Cryotek should not have any more plans following Galvatron's recovery; his only plans should then be to serve our leader and the empire. Considering he has his own craft and crew, I doubt he is planning to simply hand over the reigns to Galvatron."

"Perhaps not, Razorclaw." Nemesis Prime replied. "But look at it like this: we have just dealt the Autobots a mightier blow than we have since we were defeated, and Cryotek led us to that. I say we stay silent for now and watch Cryotek- closely. Let's see what he has planned for us, as well as for Galvatron, then we can take action if we need to."

Razorclaw said nothing more; instead, he turned his head to look back down the corridor, even though that Cryotek and Dreadwing were now unable to be seen. He wasn't happy with Nemesis Prime's decision to wait and see what Cryotek's motives were, but he respected his comrade enough to give Nemesis Prime's view a chance. Still, it did little to settle his own suspicions as to what Cryotek had planned for not only Galvatron, but for all the Predacons he had taken in under his metallic dragon's wings. What he didn't know was that Cryotek's current plans on the surface seemed genuine enough.

Walking behind the large Dreadwing, Cryotek looked to Galvatron's fallen head and dark, blank optic sensors with a poker face. He wasn't ready to expose the machinations of his mind to the thin air, let alone towards his fallen leader, or his seemingly mindless subordinate. Eventually, after several minutes of silent marching, Dreadwing and Cryotek stood before a large door. It was one of many doors that were located in the corridor they were in, but the room had the significance of being the ship's infirmary. As the pair stood before the door, it quickly slid open with a hiss of hydraulics, then the two Predacons walked into the room, with the door closing behind them. Immediately, Cryotek pointed towards a large silver, pod shaped bed, that had a large open lid looming over it.

"Place him into the repair chamber." Cryotek ordered.

Still silent, Dreadwing marched across the infirmary, carrying Galvatron effortlessly as if the mighty Predacon leader was the weight of a small child. Once he stood before the repair chamber, Dreadwing gently placed Galvatron into the interior of the chamber, which was lined with a soft purple material, then he took a step away from the chamber. Cryotek, at this time, had positioned himself near a large computer that was connected to the repair chamber. The computer, which resembled a large silver box stood on a single metallic column, and at the bottom of the column, many cables ran from the computer where they were connected to the pod. Cryotek pressed a button which caused the lid of the pod shaped chamber to close, and with a hiss, the chamber was now locked. Most of Galvatron's visage was now hidden behind the solid metal lid of the repair chamber, save for a glass porthole that allowed any who stared through it to see Galvatron's unconscious face.

Cryotek watched a small black monitor that was imbedded into the chamber's computer for a few moments, then his gaze shifted towards Dreadwing who simply stood near the repair chamber and stared at Galvatron's face. Cryotek curled his metallic lips for a moment, then he flicked a switch on the computer. Finishing what he felt he needed to do, Cryotek looked to Dreadwing and motioned for the large Decepticon to follow him, and the pair walked towards the door, before they left the room, stopping on the other side of the closing door so that they now stood in the corridor once again.

"Remain here." Cryotek ordered. "Galvatron's...recovery will take time, and the process should not be interrupted. At this point, only I may enter the infirmary to attend to our leader. Not another Predacon or Decepticon may be granted access to the infirmary- not even Starscream. Is that understood?"

"Roger."

Cryotek nodded to Dreadwing, who now stood before the door, fully blocking it with his broad frame. Satisfied with the situation, Cryotek said nothing more to the obedient Decepticon and instead walked off down the corridor to his own personal quarters.

The past few solar cycles had gone by in a dizzying blur. Cryotek needed some time alone, with nothing but silence for company so that he could recollect his thoughts. The first stage of his plan had gone flawlessly. Now, he needed time to fully focus and place his pawns exactly where he needed them, so that the second phase of his plan would unfold how he needed it to...

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

While Cryotek's space ship was heading as far away from Justice-01 as its rockets would allow it, another spacecraft was making its way for the asteroid. Like a white bullet cutting through the thick, dark, blanket of space, the spacecraft was propelled through space by powerful thrusters.

The spacecraft was an Autobot ship that had left Cybertron almost as soon as the planet received the distress call Sideways had sent. As soon as Optimus Prime was notified of the message, he immediately called together a group of Autobots to join him to rescue the Autobots who were under attack on the prison asteroid. Tow Line, Skid-Z, the Autobot medic known as Ratchet, as well as a crew of warriors quickly followed Optimus Prime onto the shuttle; but as it was ready to launch, X-Brawn and Side Burn quickly stopped Optimus Prime before he boarded it. The Autobot leader had insisted that the pair didn't accompany him on the mission, due to how personal the mission would be for them as their brother was involved, however due to their insistence to be apart of the crew to rescue their brother, Optimus Prime finally relented and allowed them to join him aboard.

As the Autobot with the longest experience in flying a spacecraft, X-Brawn had manned the controls, with Hot Shot acting as his co-pilot. The pair were sat at the head of the shuttle's control room before the large windscreen which gave them a clear view of the void of space outside the shuttle, where despite his concern, X-Brawn kept fully focused. Piloting a spacecraft needed intense concentration to keep the craft and the crew safe during what could have been a perilous journey. However, despite his countless times of piloting a ship with sharp precision and concentration under constant stress and pressure, something was breaking his concentration, causing him to grumble under his breath with irritation.

But, despite what many people would have figured was bothering him, the distraction in question wasn't actually Prowl's condition on Justice-01, even though that obviously weighed heavily on his mind. Instead, the constant tapping of metal footsteps on the metal floor of the control room had slowly turned from a mere noise into a complete distraction now. X-Brawn had tried everything to take his mind away from the noise, from solely concentrating on piloting the craft, to counting down from one million to zero, but neither those solutions, or anything else for that matter, had eased the irritation. The ceaseless noise continued, and finally X-Brawn had reached his breaking point. With a growl, the oldest of the three Autobot brothers looked over his shoulder where a look of annoyance met the culpit.

"Tarnation. Side Burn, would you knock it off? Back and fourth, back and fourth you go. If y'all don't cut that out, you're gonna give me the jitters, boy."

Side Burn, the young blue Autobot stopped in mid stride, in the middle of the ship's control room. As soon as the shuttle had left Cybertron's orbit, the youngest Autobot brother had risen from his seat, then he began to pace from one side of the control room to the other. The shuttle had been flying for over 12 hours, Earth time. Most people would have been amazed for X-Brawn, or any other members of the Autobot crew aboard to not have lost their temper in half the time, but his constant, repetitive movement had finally waned on the Autobots he shared the control room with. But, Side Burn's behaviour wasn't without reason.

"Cut me some slack, bro." Side Burn whined. "I can't just sit around knowing that Prowl and the others were attacked. He's my brother; I'm worried about him. Don't you get it?"

"Of course I do." X-Brawn replied. "But none of us will be good to Prowl, Sideways, or the others if I crash the shuttle into a hunk of space junk. I'm just as worried too, y'know."

"Hmph." Side Burn muttered. "You never show it."

X-Brawn was about to react to Side Burn's comment, but a set of heavy footsteps, that echoed through the control room from the hall outside forced him not to. Ringing through the shuttle with the sound of command, the heavy footsteps of Optimus Prime grew louder and louder in the control room, then with the sound of electronics, the door to the control room opened and Optimus Prime walked into the room, with his very presence immediately bringing a sense of responsibility and cohesion into the room with him.

"X-Brawn doesn't show his concern because he is a professional." Optimus Prime announced to Side Burn, as he heard the conversation from the corridor. "But you shouldn't mistake that professionalism for something else. You might not understand it yet, but eventually you will. You need to grow into it; it will come naturally. Then you will understand why we all don't show our true feelings quite so often."

"I'm sorry, Optimus." Side Burn replied with regret in his voice.

"Don't be, Side Burn." Optimus Prime answered. "But try to remember that your impatience will not get us to the prison asteroid any sooner. Try to relax."

Side Burn said nothing in reply to Optimus Prime; instead, Side Burn nodded, then he slumped himself back into his chair, in front of the post he was at. He flicked a switch, which brought the small monitor in front of him back on so he could try to relax and focus on another task like Optimus Prime and X-Brawn had advised him to do. Optimus Prime took his gaze from Side Burn, then he strode to the front of the room, now standing between the seats of X-Brawn and Hot Shot, which were many feet apart from each other. Placing his hands on his hip plates, the Autobot leader silently stared out into space.

"Everything okay back at the ranch?" X-Brawn asked, referring to Cybertron.

"Yes," was his leader's answer. "However, I've placed Cybertron on high alert. While we're away, we can't afford for Cybertron to be taken by our enemies unawares. I've taken steps to cover ourselves in other areas as well. We have to be ready for anything now."

"Sideways said it was a Predacon attack." Hot Shot announced. "I can't say I expected it now. For the first few years since Galvatron's defeat, I thought there would have been scattered attempts to break him out of jail. Why now?"

"Sideways also said that their number was overwhelming." Optimus Prime replied. "The last time I checked, their forces had split into small groups and scattered themselves from one side of the cosmos to the other. It would take a lot of time to bring them all together, then plan Galvatron's rescue. I can only hope that the battle to keep Galvatron imprisoned is still going on, or that they never got to him and retreated. The last thing the universe needs is my sworn enemy released on the universe once again...Have we had any luck hailing Justice-01?"

"Negative." Ratchet announced from a corner of the control room. "I've tried every hailing frequency available, but nothing's happened. We're also close enough to contact any of the Autobots down there by radio; sadly, they haven't answered that way either."

"Predacon jamming frequency?" Hot Shot suggested, thinking aloud.

"We can only hope." Ratchet replied.

"We'll find out soon," began X-Brawn. "Justice-01's in our sights."

The Autobots followed the finger of X-Brawn which pointed towards the screen of the control room, looking out into space. Following X-Brawn's finger out into space, the Autobots could see a group of asteroids that seemed to line up in space; the largest of the asteroids, which was floating just in front of the others was their intended destination. From their current point, Justice-01 looked like all the others, but as the Autobot ship flew nearer and nearer to the asteroid, they could see various shapes on its surface. As the ship continued to on its path, closing in on the asteroid mile by mile, the Autobots were able to make out the large structure that sat once proudly on the surface of the asteroid...but, once the Autobots were in the space rock's orbit, their hypothetical hearts quickly sank as they saw thick plumes of black smoke slowly wafting from the building that had obviously been run through by invading forces.

Upon seeing the state of Justice-01, a silence fell among the Autobots who were gathered in the control of their spacecraft. Those who had mouths instead of plates had their mouths a gap in shock, while others like Ratchet and X-Brawn's electrical eyes were now wider in disbelief. However, with an expression that never changed, despite seeing the crippled prison that was continually becoming more and more visible to them, Optimus Prime stood, silently taking in what was before him with a calm demeanor. Then, as the Autobot craft swooped in to the asteroid's orbit, Optimus Prime turned his back to the screen before he walked to the center of the room, where he sat in the large command chair in the center of the room.

"Autobots, prepare for entry, we're reaching Justice-01's orbit. How are we doing, X-Brawn?"

X-Brawn was silent for a few moments. He sat in his seat, looking at the smoldering asteroid with his hands on the controls of the ship. He had heard Optimus Prime's question, but his leader's sentence simply echoed into nothing in his mind as he struggled to cope with the frightening image before him. He wondered how this could have happened. Were the Decepticon commandos and the Predacons now really free? Most importantly of all, how was his younger brother, Prowl- simply defeated? Still fighting, or perhaps even worse? He wasn't sure; what he did not though, was that he was currently rife with grief and worry.

"X-Brawn?" Optimus Prime asked again.

"Erm..." X-Brawn stuttered with a startled twitch. "We're good, Prime."

"Then take us down."

X-Brawn was thankful for Optimus Prime's orders. Landing a spacecraft, especially on an unpredictable body of uneven terrain like an asteroid. At least now X-Brawn was able to take his mind from Prowl's condition...or at least try to. Keeping his grip tightly on the controls, the Autobot slowly pushed the controls forwards which caused the craft's nose to begin to slowly point down towards the surface of the asteroid. Keeping his cool despite the fact that he had a spacecraft full of lives to be responsible for, X-Brawn allowed the shuttle to steadily follow the asteroid's rotation in space, then as the shuttle began to close the distance between itself and the asteroid, the shuttle then curved so that its nose pointed towards the surface of the asteroid in a sweeping motion. The shuttle was now fully in the atmosphere of the asteroid, and it swooped down towards the asteroid, flying over the broken remains of the Justice-01 prison. It flew about a mile away from the prison before Optimus Prime spoke again.

"Let's land it here."

The order was quickly carried out as X-Brawn began to execute the landing. With the Autobot craft now only a few hundred feet over the surface of the asteroid, he took his left hand from the left control stick of the spacecraft to reach for a button nearby. Upon pressing the button, X-Brawn, as well as the other Autobots, felt the craft jerk slightly as it came to a stop and floated in the air. X-Brawn flicked another switch and with that the Autobot spacecraft began to slowly lower to the ground until the metallic legs that had just sprouted out from under the ship's frame and touched down onto the hard surface of the asteroid. Now feeling the craft making contact with the ground, X-Brawn flicked another switch, then the crew heard the ship's engines begin to power down.

"Nice landing." Hot Shot announced.

"Thanks." X-Brawn replied humbly.

"Alright team, prepare to disembark." Optimus Prime said as he stood. "Judging by our first look, everything's quiet out there, but keep your weapons online and be ready for anything. There could be a surprise welcoming committee waiting for us."

With the Autobot ship now successfully landed on Justice-01, the Autobots prepared to disembark. Those in the control room of the ship left their seats as soon as Optimus Prime stood, then they followed him through the door out of the control room and down the long corridor. As they walked, each of the Autobots checked their weapons as well as their battle systems to ensure that they were ready for anything hostile that was waiting for them outside of the sanctity of their spacecraft, be it a Decepticon commando, Predacon or any of the other extraterrestrial prisoners on the asteroid. During their walk through the ship, the crew from the control room that consisted of Optimus Prime, X-Brawn, Ratchet, Side Burn, Skid-Z, Hot Shot and Tow Line were joined by another five Autobots. Slightly smaller than the average sized Autobots of the crew, standing at about the same height as Hot Shot, the five Autobots who comprised Hot Shot's Spychanger unit met up with the main crew then the entire group walked to the exit of the ship as one.

Now standing on a lower deck of the ship, Optimus Prime stood at the head of the group and watched as the floor of the area of the ship they were in suddenly began to open. Hinged, the floor began to drop until it made a ramp that touched the rocky floor of the asteroid, to fill the dark hangar of the Autobots' ship with the light that came from the star that was nearest to Justice-01. Slowly, Optimus Prime walked down the ramp, leaving the safety of the ship as he stepped onto Justice-01's ground for the first time in ten years. One by one, the other Autobots followed him until the last member of Optimus Prime's team stood assembled with the rest of the group before the ship as the group began to scrutinize their surroundings. It was a first for the group that a location they knew so well and actually had control over was now so alien to them. The trepidation within them was evident, for Optimus Prime took his time looking over the terrain over and over before he finally gave the order for the Autobots to start walking away from the ship. With every step the group took, all eyes scanned every square inch of all visible territory around them; their attention would quickly snap to the slightest sound or movement, but for the first few minutes of their journey, they found that any noise or movement was simply caused by a gust the gravity of the asteroid causing loose rocks to move as if they were pushed by wind. Justice-01 had been a fair distance away, but within minutes, the Autobots could see the half destroyed building just on the horizon before them. It was then that Optimus Prime halted the group as he looked at the prison painfully, seeing the smouldering wreckage of what he now knew was an Autobot shuttle that had crashed through the prison and caused the fire that ripped through the facility.

"They sure did a number on this place." The Spychanger, Ironhide announced with a southern drawl.

"It doesn't look promising," the usually quiet Mirage replied.

"What do we do now, Prime?" X-Brawn asked, who stood just behind his leader.

"We split up," Optimus Prime answered. "We need to locate our friends, but also ensure that none of the prisoners are out there somewhere with an ambush."

Optimus Prime turned around so that he could see his assembled group, who were all close together so that they could watch each others' backs. As a tightly knit group, it would be hard for a sniper to target one of them without others possibly spotting the attack just before it happened. But now that they had two different priorities, Optimus Prime knew that it would be better to spread his group out so that while one lot of Autobots went to rescue Prowl and the others, the other group of Autobots could keep watch for any hostiles, which is exactly what Optimus Prime told his men.

"Hot Shot, I want you to take the other Spychangers around the east side of the prison. Keep a look out for any hostiles, be they Predacons or any others. Meanwhile, the rest of us will head around the prison from the west side. We'll meet up on the northern most point of the prison, and if we've encountered nothing- friend or foe -we'll make our way into the prison together."

"Understood," Hot Shot answered as he then looked to the Spychangers. "Okay guys, let's transform and roll out!"

At Hot Shot's command, the five Spychangers transformed to their vehicular modes with Hot Shot finally transforming himself after his unit were fully in their vehicle forms. Leading the way, the black Porsche led Mirage the indy car, Ironhide the black and white pickup truck, WARS the red stock car, REV the yellow Laborghini and Crosswise the blue sports car towards the east. With the group of cars picking up speed, they then revealed an incredible ability that they possessed as their visages suddenly shimmered, then before the other Autobots' very eyes, the Spychangers disappeared from view as they became invisible; only the dust they kicked up was all that could betray their presence as they rushed for the prison.

"I hope no one sees that cloud of dust and assumes that it could be the enemy." Ratchet murmured.

"Very few of the prisoners here could be that bright." X-Brawn announced as he nudged Ratchet's side. "They'd probably say it's the wind, even though there's no such thing as wind in space."

"Either way, we'll start our advancement to the west side," Optimus Prime began. "Let's stay in robot mode. With invisibility on their side, the Spychangers can afford to use more speed than we who are out in the open. Keep your optic sensors primed and be ready to act. Let's go."

So on foot, Optimus Prime's team began their journey, albeit much slower than their Spychanger counterparts. Their method of travel was met with protest from Side Burn who simply wanted to get to the prison as fast as possible to try and find his and X-Brawn's brother, Prowl so that they could enact a rescue, but it was X-Brawn who reminded Side Burn that Prowl could very well be injured, somewhere out in the expanse of rocky valley that comprised the giant asteroid. This was a sobering fact that Side Burn hadn't considered before then, so the youngest of the three Autobot brothers quickly silenced himself before simply falling back in line with the other Autobots while they slowly walked and continued to keep a close eye on the terrain.

For much of their walk, the Autobots encountered nothing, but then Skid-Z heard a noise to his right, causing him to jump and look towards a large rocky ledge. Looking to the ledge which stood at his own height Skid-Z now stood facing the ledge with his laser blast pointed at the ledge as he then saw some kind of movement, that was still mostly hidden behind the rocks.

"Something's over there!" Skid-Z called to the other Autobots, who now quickly stopped and turned their attention to Skid-Z.

"Where?" Optimus Prime asked.

"Just there," Skid-Z answered. "Someone's hiding behind that ledge."

The Autobots weren't willing to take any chances upon hearing Skid-Z's revelation. They quickly trained their weapons at the rocky ledge, then they waited silently and patiently for whoever, or whatever was lurking behind the ledge to come out and face them. The sounds of movement from behind the cover of the rocks was now evident, for the Autobots didn't make a sound as they silently waited for the unknown to present itself to them. The anticipation among the Autobots was thick; was it a friend behind the ledge, or was it a foe? Either way, the anticipation was so thick that it could have quite easily have been cut with a laser beam. Then, finally, the sound grew larger, and the Autobots were roused to a start as they saw a set of black fingertips rise from behind the cover of the ledge. Slowly, the fingers then wrapped around the top of the ledge. The Autobots watched, seeing that the hand's owner had contracted the pistons and gears in its arm as they began to pull themselves up to the Autobots view. Immediately, Side Burn shifted his posture slightly as he prepared to strike.

"Here it comes!" Side Burn cried.

"Wait," Optimus Prime ordered with his hand out to Side Burn. "Hold your fire! Let whoever that is present themselves to us. It might be a friend."

Side Burn looked to Optimus Prime with a look of surprise. He thought that Optimus Prime would have ordered the Autobots to fire on whomever it was. Even though Optimus Prime had made the point that the being in hiding may have been a friend, Side Burn reasoned that it may have just as easily been the enemy. Still, with the respect he held for his leader, Side Burn did as he was asked and decided not to fire on the unknown being...yet. Instead like the others, he simply aimed his own cannon at the area of movement. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the unknown being made themselves known to the Autobots, and it was then the Autobots lowered their weapons as they looked to the person in shock as the familiar form of Sideways painfully pulled himself up into view.

With his armour cracked and dented in places, as well completely torn off in some places, the yellow and black Autobot now looked like a battered shell of his former self. Now lying on top of the ledge with oil and lubricants leaking out of his many damaged parts, Sideways looked to Optimus Prime and the others with injured optic sensors, one of which was completely shattered. From his position, the Autobots couldn't see the state of Sideways' lower body, but what they noticed about Sideways upper body caused their own oil to run cold for they saw that Sideways was missing his left arm, which had been viciously torn off. Cables and broken steel rods protruded from his shoulder which was missing the appendage. Oil continuously spurted out of the wound followed the rhythm that his fuel pump beat, leaving Sideways as a sorry, severely injured sight to behold.

"Optimus..." Sideways wheezed.

Ratchet and Optimus Prime rushed to the ledge where Sideways was perched, but they quickly stopped in surprise as the Autobot lost his balance on top of the ledge, which caused him to drop from the top of the ledge. His body rotated in mid air, and Sideways landed harshly as he back slammed into the hard rocky ground of the asteroid, forcing Sideways to let out a grunt of shock as well as pain after he landed. It was then that the Autobots noticed that not only was Sideways missing an arm, but he was missing the lower half of his left leg as well. Like his shoulder, oil spurted violently from out of his knee joint while cables limply draped on the rocky ground from the remains of his leg. It was then that Ratchet and Optimus Prime crouched beside Sideways to tend to his injuries while the other Autobots quickly formed a ring around the trio on the floor.

"Sideways, what happened?" Optimus Prime asked with worry.

"It was the Predacons," Sideways announced through a pain filled voice. "They took us be surprise and attacked us."

"Where's Prowl?" Side Burn then asked, lowering his turbo backfire cannon. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know." Sideways sighed. "I was never in the prison with them."

Sideways hissed in pain for a moment as Ratchet began to tend to his wounds. Then, after a few moments of adjusting to the pain, Sideways spoke again.

"I was prepping the shuttle for the trip back when the Preds attacked. I joined the fight by using flying the shuttle and firing on their number to drive them back, but a couple of Decepticons caused it to crash...over there. Then, as I was trying to get in touch with Prowl, the same two Decepticons jumped me. They beat me up pretty bad before the smaller one told the large one to rip my arm and leg off with my own energon chainsaw. They were pretty barbaric with me..."

"I'm amazed you're still online." Ratchet said softly to Sideways.

"There were a couple of times where I almost slipped away." Sideways replied. "But then, I saw your ship. I dragged myself up here to try and flag you down. I'm lucky you heard me when you did."

"Take it easy now, Sideways." Optimus Prime announced. "Everything will be alright now. Just relax and let Ratchet take care of you."

"You need to get to the prison." Sideways then said as he looked to Optimus Prime. "I didn't get to see much, but when I watched the Decepticons and Predacons leaving, I never saw any of the other Autobots pursuing them."

"Will do." Optimus Prime nodded.

Optimus Prime rose from his knee, then he turned to X-Brawn, Side burn, Tow Line and Skid-Z. He was about to issue his next order, but his radio quickly switched itself on before Hot Shot's voice came in through his radio. Optimus Prime turned away from the Autobots as he listened to Hot Shot, giving him his full attention.

"_Hot Shot calling Optimus Prime."_

"This is Prime," the Autobot leader answered. "What have you found?"

"_Not much," _came Hot Shot's answer. _"No sign of anyone; Autobots or otherwise. We reached our rendezvous point a while ago. It's been so quiet we decided to take a closer look inside the prison...Prime, the situation is grim judging by what's happened in here."_

"Yes?" Optimus Prime asked. "Go on."

"_We've checked the cells where Galvatron and the Decepticon commandos were supposed to be, but the cells are empty. Worst still, we found Sideswipe and Sunstreaker in the corridor just outside Galvatron's cell block. I'm sorry to tell you this, but Sunstreaker is dead."_

The news hit the Autobots hard, as all of them heard the message Optimus Prime heard. Optimus took the news hard, even though he didn't show it, but the Autobot leader would have preferred to take a laser cannon blast straight to his chest than have to bear the news that one of his very own soldiers had been destroyed; no doubt it was in a grim and gruesome way if the Predacons or Decepticons were involved.

"What of Sideswipe?" Optimus Prime asked.

"_He was caught in some kind of energy web. He's pretty beaten up too, but he's still alive, at least."_

It was then Side Burn decided to enter the conversation. Using his left hand, Side Burn pressed a small button located on the left side of his helmet, near where his robotic ear was so that his own radio was activated before he began to speak next.

"Hey, this is Side Burn. Do you know where Prowl is?"

"_I'm sorry, Side Burn, but he isn't here." _Hot Shot answered. _"Roulette is unaccounted for, too."_

"What of the other inmates?" Optimus Prime asked next, to which there was an extended pause while Hot Shot could be heard quietly consulting the other Spychangers. Then, he came back on the radio with his answer.

"_According to WARS and Crosswise, the biological prisoners didn't survive the invasion, or the fire caused by the crashed shuttle. It's pretty messy in here. But, here's some interesting news- the three Preds, Slapper, Gas Skunk and Darkscream aren't here either. By the looks of the scorch marks around their cell, it looks like they may have sprung free from the prison at least three days ago."_

"I wonder why that wasn't accounted for..." Optimus Prime thought aloud.

"_I don't know." _Hot Shot replied. _"We're gonna try and get the power back on in here and see if we can access the computer's reports to see if we can find out what happened."_

"Keep on it," Optimus Prime ordered. "See what you can find out; the rest of us will continue the search for Prowl and Roulette. But Hot Shot- be careful. Some of the prisoners still might not have left yet."

"_Gotcha, Prime."_

Optimus Prime ended his conversation with Hot Shot, then he looked back to the Autobots, who were now even more anxious than they were before, especially Side Burn. The young Autobot was grumbling to himself, then he looked to Optimus Prime with a look of frustration.

"We need to get going!" Side Burn cried. "Prowl could be in trouble!"

"Yeah," X-Brawn seconded. "I'm not impulsive like Side Burn, but this don't sit right with me, Prime. We've gotta do something."

"Agreed." Optimus Prime replied. "We'll split up and cover more ground. Side Burn and X-Brawn, I want you two to make you way north, past the prison to look for our friends. I'll backtrack to the south, past our ship; it's possible that they're somewhere there. Tow Line, Skid-Z, I want you two to stay here with Ratchet while he attends to Sideways."

"_Nobody is going anywhere!"_

The sudden announcement from a voice that came not from their number, but from somewhere else shocked the Autobots, who visibly jumped in surprise. Immediately, the group raised their weapons in a defensive posture as they quickly formed a circle around Ratchet and Sideways. They all looked quickly around, when Skid-Z, once again noticed the presence of a figure nearby.

"Over there!" Skid-Z cried.

The Autobots turned their attention to Skid-Z's finger which pointed to a direction of a collection of large, jagged rocky pillars that rose up from the asteroid. The mysterious being who had made the declaration just seconds earlier then suddenly strode out from the cover of the asteroid's rocky pillars, revealing himself to the Autobot crew. He was deathly familiar to the Autobots present. Clad in a black finish, walking with an air of arrogance on a frame that boasted his natural strength and ferocious nature, the Autobots recognized that it was the Decepticon commando, Scourge, who now stood several feet away from the Autobots silently clutching his large, red sword of fury. Optimus Prime was shocked to see Scourge was still on the asteroid, considering that the Predacons had been there, and he silently cursed himself for simply allowing the prisoners weapons to be stored in a vault in the prison as evidence for their crimes against the universe. In hindsight, this incident was the sole reason their weapons should have been destroyed, for now, despite being low on energon and weak, Scourge had a weapon. That single reason made him a deadly enemy to the Autobots once again, instead of just a threat like he had been while he had been incarcerated.

"Optimus Prime. It's been many years, has it not?" Scourge asked.

"It's Scourge!" Side Burn cried. "Blast him!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Scourge calmly announced, interrupting Side burn and stopping him from raising his turbo backfire cannon.

"Give me a reason, you ugly son a truck." Side Burn growled.

"Why certainly," Scourge said compliantly. "Mega-Octane, if you please..."

The Autobots watched on as they heard more footsteps begin to step on the rocky surface, from behind the jagged pillars. The Decepticon, Mega-Octane now strode out from behind the cover that the pillars provided, carrying something that caused the Autobots great distress. Hoisted over Mega-Octane's shoulder was the limp, battered and severely damaged body of the unconscious Prowl. Gasps of fright and disbelief came from the Autobot crew as Mega-Octane walked over to Scourge, then Mega-Octane dumped Prowl harshly on the ground before Scourge, a sight which incited anger inside Side Burn.

"Give him back now!" Side Burn cried, once again raising his firearm.

"Call off your men, Prime." Scourge announced, blatantly ignoring the young Autobot.

"And why should I do that?" Optimus Prime asked.

"Because your men -especially the young idiot there- are making me nervous, simply waving their firearms about like that. When I'm nervous, I tend to get twitchy."

To emphasize his point, Scourge placed a heavy right foot into Prowl's damaged chest. Then, holding his sword of fury, Scourge swung the sword so that the sharp, deadly tip of the blade dangled back and fourth just above Prowl's head like a pendulum of death. As he allowed his sword to swing back and fourth, Scourge narrowed his eyes, and despite not having a mouth, if he did, Scourge would have flashed an evil grin towards Optimus Prime, who understood Scourge's intentions quite clearly as he quickly gave the order the other Autobots to lower their weapons. Despite some visible protest from their expressions, the Autobots did so as they glared towards the two Decepticons before them who held their friend.

"Alright Scourge," Optimus Prime began, "you have my interest. What is it you want?"

"That's better." Scourge stated. "It's quite simple, Prime. On our way out of your prison, my commandos and I found this wreckage outside our cell, strewn across the floor like a piece of scrap. I was going to rip out his fuel cells to recharge myself and my men, but now you're here, I believe he's become something more useful than that- he's become a great bargaining chip."

"A bargaining chip for what?" Optimus Prime asked.

"A ticket off this miserable rock." Scourge answered.

"What?"

"If the officer's life is of value to you, Prime, then it is only a modest request to ask for the spacecraft that you arrived here in."

"No way!" Tow Line cried.

"Yeah, think again, you creep!" Skid-Z seconded.

The Autobot squad once again trained their weapons towards Scourge and Mega-Octane, who continued to stand menacingly over Prowl's broken body; but they didn't fire. They stood, ready to act, but only when their leader gave the order. Optimus Prime then made an announcement, but it wasn't one that the Autobots expected. Instead, they were shocked to hear the words that from Optimus Prime's robotic voice.

"You'll get no argument from me, Scourge."

"What?" Side Burn asked in disbelief. "You can't be serious, Optimus! You're just gonna let them get away with this?"

"Think about it, Side Burn," Optimus Prime began as he looked to the young Autobot. "Is the life of your brother worth one of many space shuttles?"

"He's right, Side Burn." X-Brawn murmured.

"I'm glad you see it my way, Prime." Scourge said.

As he looked towards the Autobots before him, Scourge took great pleasure in knowing that they were powerless to do anything. Instead, it was Scourge who held all the power. He controlled the game because he knew that one of the Autobots greatest strengths was also one of their greatest weaknesses- their compassion. Scourge knew this well, and by using Prowl as a tool in his power play, everything went exactly how he planned it would. It was also a thrill for Scourge to see the young upstart, Side Burn wrestle with the conflict within himself before he sighed and lowered his turbo backfire blaster, thereby admitting defeat.

"How do we know we can trust you?" X-Brawn suddenly asked.

"Because my desire to leave this asteroid is far greater than my desire to destroy you weaklings...for the moment, anyway." Scourge replied. "Perhaps I should throw that question back at you. Why should I give up the only thing that is possibly keeping myself and Mega-Octane from being blasted to smithereens?"

"Because I've given you my word." Optimus Prime informed his evil counterpart. "My word as the leader of the Autobots is my bond and therefore unbreakable. Give us Prowl, and I will allow you to take my ship. You have my word of honour on that."

"Hm, hm, hm," Scourge chuckled. "It's your word of honour that makes you weak, Optimus Prime. Very well, we have a deal."

Saying nothing more, Scourge took his foot from Prowl's chest. That, along with placing his sword of fury on his back once again allowed the Autobots to calm themselves for a moment, but they were quickly tense as Scourge drew his right leg back then threw it forwards. His foot made hard contact with Prowl's torso, forcing the white Autobot to fly up into the air before he landed on the rocky floor many feet away, then he bounced off the asteroid floor once again until he skidded to a stop, face down near the Autobots. Ratchet rushed to Prowl without thinking, immediately sliding to the ground, then he softly turned Prowl over to see that he was indeed unconscious with wounds more serious than what Sideways had endured, if that was even possible to consider.

With the Autobots' attention now on their fallen comrades, Scourge began to walk forward as he began to make his way towards the Autobot spacecraft. Mega-Octane waited a moment as he looked to the rock pillars and waved. The Autobots heard another collection of footsteps, and they saw the other Decepticon commandos Armorhide, Rollbar, Rotor and Movor walk out from the behind the rocks then together, the Decepticons quickly followed behind Scourge as the group began to walk past Optimus Prime. As he continued to walk, Scourge suddenly stopped for a moment as he turned his head to look to Optimus Prime who had his back to the Decepticon.

"So long, Optimus Prime and enjoy your new home. Sorry we can't stay, but I hope you accept our home warming party. If anything, he'll make an excellent coffee table. Until he rusts!"

After those final words, the Decepticons began to stride off again, with the majority of the group laughing at Scourge's mocking call to Optimus Prime. Scourge's words burned through Side Burn like a laser, and reacting to Scourge's taunt, the young Autobot quickly rose from Prowl's side, turned around, then he aimed his turbo backfire blaster at the back of the Decepticons, ready to fire once again. But quickly, X-Brawn rose to his feet and swatted Side Burn's blaster down towards the ground.

"Let 'em go." X-Brawn said with a firm tone.

"Grr...Just one hit." Side Burn pleaded.

"Side Burn, I could do with your help." Ratchet announced. "Prowl's wounds are considerably worse than Sideways; he's critical. I need to put my full attention on your brother for a moment, so I could do with your mechanics experience to help stabilize Sideways for me."

Side Burn continued to burn a hole in the back of the Decepticon commandos as they continued to walk off towards the Autobot craft. It took a nudge as well as encouragement from X-Brawn to force the young Autobot to fully lower his cannon, then he walked over to Sideways, where he then crouched down and began to assist Sideways. Optimus Prime was grateful for Ratchet's quick thinking to take Side Burn's attention away from the Decepticons and onto something more productive; their condition was already grim, and Optimus Prime didn't need the explosive, rash Side Burn making it any worse by retaliating against the Decepticons' wicked taunts. Optimus Prime watched the Decepticons walk to the ship, much like Side Burn had done until X-Brawn walked up beside him.

"How you holdin' up, boss?" X-Brawn asked.

"I've had better days." Optimus Prime sighed. "Giving them that ship is giving them a great tactical advantage, but I couldn't allow your brother to be harmed. I'm just grateful now that I had the foresight to relay some orders back to Cybertron. If it takes us a while to leave Justice-01, which I fear it might, at least the other Autobots have enough insight to carry on without us."

"That's somethin' at least," X-Brawn replied. "Here's somethin' else for ya. I just got off the radio with WARS, he told me that they found Roulette. She's fine, save for bein' pretty shaken up by the attack. They're all in the generator room of the prison to try and get the prison power back online."

"That's something to be thankful for." Optimus Prime nodded.

The conversation would have continued, but the deafening ignition of the Autobot shuttle's engines roaring into life broke the flow of the conversation. Watching on, Optimus Prime and X-Brawn witnessed the ship rise up into the air, then it quickly began to fly. It flew over the Autobots, directly overhead, almost taunting the group, before it circled around and then the craft quickly jetted off into space, where it disappeared in the thick dark blanket of space. Watching Optimus Prime stare up at the ship gave Scourge a small laugh as he watched Optimus Prime from the windshield of the Autobot shuttle, then once they had left the asteroid, Scourge walked over to Optimus Prime's command chair and allowed himself the pleasure of a seat, while the Decepticon commandos worked the various posts in the control room.

"That was a good gambit back there." Rollbar said to Scourge from the co-pilot chair. "How'd you know it would work?"

"The Autobots are weak willed and predictable." Scourge said venomously. "I knew they'd do whatever I wanted from them so long as they had their friend back without any further damage."

"So what do we do now?" Movor asked from the pilot's chair. "Do we try and catch up with Predacons and Decepticons, or what?"

"Predacons?" Scourge asked. "Decepticons? No, forget about those low lives."

"What do you mean, Scourge?" asked a shocked Mega-Octane. "We're Decepticons just like they are."

"Not anymore." Scourge said with conviction. "At least, I'm not anymore. I refuse to fall in line with an army that would just as soon as abandon us. Why should we put our lives on the line for someone who wouldn't bother to have us freed from the same predicament? Who here actually wishes to go back to Galvatron, knowing that he just sees us as disposable?"

A hush fell over the control room of the spacecraft. Despite their shock at Scourge's feelings, the group couldn't help but see things Scourge's way. It was true; Galvatron could have ordered those Predacons to stop and release them. It wouldn't have taken much time to free them in the same way they had released Galvatron, but instead the leader of both the Predacons and the Decepticons chose to exact a measure of revenge on the Autobots before the Predacons then took their leave. Taking the silence in the room as an agreement, Scourge continued.

"I say we don't need the Predacons, or any other Decepticons. We are our own men, and together, we can do what an army of thousands has yet to do- we can gain control of the universe. I say we are better than the weakling Autobots, the disgusting Predacons and backstabbing Decepticons. We are Commandos, and our time is now. Rotor, plot a course to Earth! The first step in our hostile takeover will begin there!"


	4. Ep4 Hide & Seek

_**Episode 4- Hide & Seek**_

**Chapter 1**

While Optimus Prime and the other Autobots were currently dealing with their dilemma on Justice-01, the planet Earth was still enjoying an extended period of peace. Since the Transformers appearance on Earth, all the warring nations around the world had put down their arms, and ceased their vendettas against one another. It wasn't down to a reconciliation between the warring parties, but when the Predacons had began their attacks on the Earth ten years ago, some nations went into a state of ceasefire, while others became more productive and turned their attention to trying to defend their planet from the Predacon and Decepticon invaders when the Autobots weren't in an area that was under attack from their enemies. Either way, following Fortress Maximus' departure from the Earth with the Autobots and captured Decepticons and Predacons aboard, the nations of the Earth kept their ceasefire; they waited for their enemies to begin their war anew, but it never happened, even after ten years. In some ways, many of the world's political leaders had looked upon the Transformers' extended visit to Earth as a blessing in disguise.

During this era of peace, the various nations of the world had placed their attention on space travel and space research, as if inspired by the robotic aliens trip to Earth. More trips were made up the Earth's International Space Station to speed up the completion of the orbiting facility. The project was very close to completion, and currently, a crew of astronauts from the United States were currently aboard the space station. It had been another hard day's work for the crew, who were now enjoying some much needed rest and relaxation as they slept, strapped up into their beds so that they didn't float up towards the ceilings. However, not every member of the crew was asleep. Currently sitting in a small research wing of the space station was the mission commander, who was feverishly attempting to catch up with a considerable amount of paperwork that had piled up during the crew's tests. The crew were due to return the next day, 16:00 hours American time, and the reports had to be presented to the officials back on Earth without fail.

So, the mission commander made the decision to stay up three hours later than his schedule allowed him to stay up working on duties to finish his work. It was perhaps a foolish move, considering he had to captain a shuttle trip back to Earth the next day; he would need to be well rested for his trip back, but he didn't fancy looking his superiors in the eye with only a half full file of research. Still, after five hours, there was only so much paperwork one person could take, so with a sigh, the commander took his attention away from his work as he stretched out in his chair. As he stretched, he looked to the large circular window that was positioned in one corner of the room. The view of the planet Earth was beautiful as it sat serenely below the space station, slowly rotating. Seeing as it was his final hours on the space station, the mission commander decided to fully appreciate the view before him, so he unbuckled the harnesses that had kept him place in his seat.

Immediately, the commander began to float in the air before he quickly repositioned himself in the air, then he began to kick move his arms and legs in an imitation of the breast stroke as he swam towards the large window for a closer look at the Earth. He gazed at the beautiful orb of blue, white and green below him, taking in every inch of the planet that he could see. Truly, to him, there was not a sight or view on the surface of the Earth that could match the breathtaking sight that could be seen from the space station. He found that whenever he gazed at the Earth from the same window that he always looked through, every worry about home life, money and even his space career became insignificant in a very humbling way.

But suddenly, something else caught the commander's attention; it was a twinkle from the upper right corner of his sight. Immediately, the commander turned his head fully to further inspect the twinkle that caught his attention and with wide eyes, the commander was amazed to see an object flying towards the space station at thousands of miles per hour. As the object began to pass the space station, the commander looked on in awe to see that the object wasn't simply an asteroid, or some other piece of space junk, but instead, it was a large, white spacecraft. Like nothing that was found on Earth, the commander watched as the spacecraft- which was now surrounded in a bubble of red caused by friction- dived for the Earth. Then in one, final sight, the commander looked on as the spacecraft seemed to shimmer, much like the horizon in a desert, before it simply vanished. Confused, the mission commander blinked, rubbed his eyes, then looked out into space again. However, the spacecraft had completely vanished, but there was no possible way for the craft to disappear like he thought he had seen, unless it had exploded; even then, there should have been a flash of an explosion, with the area strewn with debris, of which there was none. After a few moments of excitedly looking around, the mission commander gave up with a sigh before he looked away from the window.

"From now on, no more overtime up here..." the mission commander sighed to himself.

The mission commander then began to swim away to the sleeping chambers of the space station, feeling that he was seeing things due to work related fatigue. But, what the commander didn't know was that the unbelievable sight he had seen was very real. The spacecraft he had seen was was a real ship- an Autobot ship, and its pilot, Ultra Magnus sat in the flight deck of the Autobot ship as he guided it steadily towards the planet Earth. As the mission commander watched the craft disappear before his very eyes, he didn't know that Ultra Magnus, with the push of a button, had switched on the craft's cloaking device so that he could fly down to the Earth without being spotted by anyone on the space station, or be spotted by any of the other satellites that drifted around Earth's orbit. He hadn't realized that he had been spotted by the mission commander back on the space station, but due to the man not believing what he had seen, it was ultimately of no consequence so Ultra Magnus continued on his way without giving the space station or its occupants another thought.

"Best to make sure nobody sees me drop in." Ultra Magnus said softly to himself.

As the ship continued to plough towards the Earth, Ultra Magnus sat calmly at the craft's controls, despite the fact the ship began to shake and rumble, due to the fact that it was met with the resistance of the Earth's atmosphere. The temperature of the ship had risen too, but again, that fact didn't phase the large Autobot inside the craft; instead, he simply sat, focused on piloting the ship down to the planet Earth. Eventually, the rumbling that occurred through his spacecraft began to die down, until it then went away, allowing the spacecraft to fly calmly with no turbulence once again for now Ultra Magnus' craft flew through the Earth's night sky, even though it was still invisible.

With the hardest part of his voyage to Earth no over with, Ultra Magnus began to relax as his thoughts now focused on something else- his enemies. He recalled the events of the past few days in his mind; the final argument with Optimus Prime back on Cybertron, his initial flight back into space, then finally picking up the signal on the Autobot network that Justice-01 was under attack. Ultra Magnus considered flying to the prison asteroid himself to help the Autobots on the asteroid fight off the invaders, but as soon as he found out that Cybertron had deployed an Autobot squad to aid the Justice-01, Ultra Magnus quickly changed his course for the Transformers' old battle ground of the planet Earth. He figured with Galvatron probably being released, it wouldn't be too long before the enemy made their way to the planet Earth, for Earth was a unique planet that was filled with more natural occurring energy sources than any planet over the span of many galaxies.

"I know the 'cons will come back here. Somewhere, sooner or later, they'll be back and when they do, I'll be waiting for them..."

Ultra Magnus' now cruised through the skies of the Earth, quickly flying through the night sky and into the twilight as he flew from differing time zones within the span of minutes. The Autobot was looking for a place to land as he considered where the best place it would be for Ultra Magnus to begin his own personal mission; he wondered to himself, where would the Predacons and Decepticon likely start their impending assault on Earth. Without Cybertron base online on Earth, the Autobots' global space bridge was shut down, due to the fact that the Autobots had left the planet Earth ten years ago. With that in mind, Ultra Magnus wouldn't be able to hop from nation to nation in a flash like before. It would take valuable time if say, his enemies began an attack in Germany, while his current location was Canada. He needed to make sure he prepared as much as he could for the inevitable.

"Optimus Prime was an idiot for not listening to me." Ultra Magnus stated. "Now look at what's happened- Justice-01's been attacked, and obviously just so Galvatron and the Decepticons could be released. They're more dangerous now that they have their leader back. They'll all be begging for vengeance against us Autobots, and no doubt this planet, too... Too bad they won't count on me being here to wait for them, though; I'll be the one to finally take Galvatron down once and for all, then the Autobots will have no choice but to listen to me, instead of Optimus Prime. Then, even Vector Sigma will realize that I was the best choice to become Autobot leader."

By this time, Ultra Magnus' ship now flew over far-east Asia and it was here that Ultra Magnus' yellow optics shone with realization as a thought occurred to him- Japan! The nation of Japan had been the main stage for the Transformers' war on Earth. Even though the war on Earth had started in New York City, following the abduction of the Earth's foremost authority on energy, Dr. Onishi, the battle quickly shifted over to Japan as most of the Doctor's research came from his home country. With that thought in mind, Ultra Magnus quickly directed his spacecraft to Japan, where within minutes, he found himself flying over his intended destination. But now the question was, where to land? It had to be somewhere remote, and out of sight. Even though the cloaking device that still caused the craft to be invisible by eye and by radar could stay on as long as the spacecraft's power supply was online, people still may haphazardly walk into the invisible ship, which had the potential to blow his cover. Not only that, but he didn't wish to be seen walking or driving in or out of an invisible ship; he needed a place suitable enough that he would never be seen. Then quickly, he found his answer.

As his ship flew miles in the sky, he watched the ship's screens to see that he quickly passed over the city of Tokyo, then his ship began to fly over the vast body of water that was Tokyo bay. The bay was the answer to Ultra Magnus' problem for keeping his ship at the bottom of the ocean would provide the cover necessary, so with that in mind, Ultra Magnus quickly controlled his ship to dive down from the sky, down towards the ocean surface. Within seconds, Ultra Magnus watched the view as the front of his ship hit the ocean surface, throwing the surface of the usually steady water in the bay into a waving body of water. Fortunately for Ultra Magnus, he caused his ship to dive far enough out into the bay that the waves his ship kicked up meant that the fierce waves were nothing more than ripples of the shore line of the bay, so that the population of Tokyo wouldn't suspect a thing. The ship continued on its way, further and further down to the depths of the bay until finally, the ship came across the ocean floor, and Ultra Magnus pulled at the controls to reposition his ship so that the large craft landed with its hull gently touching the sea bed. With his landing complete, Ultra Magnus relaxed in his seat by sitting back with his hands just hanging off his thighs; then, after a few moments of relaxation, Ultra Magnus reached forward to press a button that caused the screen in his ship to flicker to a map of Japan.

"This metropolis is the capital of Japan." Ultra Magnus surmised. "If the 'cons come back to Japan, no doubt they'll come here. I'd better get moving."

With that, Ultra Magnus swiveled around in his large seat, then he rose to his feet and walked towards the back of the room, where the door was located. Walking to the door, Ultra Magnus saw that his large blue bolts weapon, that was a large Gatling gun and laser rifle was where he left it, propped up against the wall beside the door. He grabbed the blue bolts weapon, and hoisted it over his shoulder as he walked through the door, down the corridor with all intent to exit his ship. Ultra Magnus made his way through the ship, until he eventually found himself in the cargo hold of his ship, which was empty. He walked all the way across the cargo hold, to the back of it then once there, he opened a small door that was inside the larger hinged ramp that allowed large machinery to be rolled up and stored in the cargo bay. Being submersed in the water, Ultra Magnus figured that allowing water into an empty room at the bottom of his ship would do it no damage, so as he opened the door, water poured into the large hold until Magnus jumped through the barrier of water and stepped onto the ocean floor then he closed the door behind him. He stood on the ocean floor for a moment, then the rockets on his back mounted jet pack roared into life. The force of the combustive jets pushed Ultra Magnus up off the ocean floor, where he rocketed through the water until he eventually, his head broke through the surface of the water, then he cut off his jet pack and bobbed up and down in the water as he looked around the bay, with only his head visible. Fortunately though, Ultra Magnus found that the early morning in Tokyo meant that there were very few people along the urban shore of the bay, and no ships were sailing towards, or away from it; so, using the quiet period, Ultra Magnus swam across the bay, until he eventually reached the shore. He stepped out of the water, then he quickly transformed into his vehicle carrier form. Now, in his disguise as a simple truck, Ultra Magnus was able to go where he pleased without raising suspicions of the humans around him. His engine roared into life, then Ultra Magnus drove out from the shore. He followed the road onto a bridge that took him from the bay to the main city of Tokyo, then it wasn't long until Ultra Magnus found himself on the bustling roads of the large city.

It had been a long time since Ultra Magnus had driven along the roads of Earth, especially on the congested, always busy roads of Tokyo. For the last ten years, Ultra Magnus was used to flying around the vast darkness of space, or the large roads of Cybertron, or other alien planets. The streets of Earth were considerably smaller, so it was natural for the Autobot to feel enclosed with the narrow roads, filled with cars and trucks around every turn. It took a while for Ultra Magnus to get his bearings, but eventually, the streets and highways of Tokyo began to become familiar to him, so the blue and white car carrier slipped into a sense of comfort and familiarity as he rolled along the roads. Eventually, as time slipped by, Ultra Magnus had found he had sped across a freeway, until he found himself on the other side of the city. Due to the traffic that Ultra Magnus had faced during rush hour, it taken him a considerable amount of time to hit the freeway, so by the time he found himself on the other side of Tokyo, it was already the afternoon. He felt he wasted so much time just traveling from the south of Tokyo to the north.

"I never missed Earth, and I missed their roads even less." Ultra Magnus grumbled. "These humans don't even know how to drive. Maybe I should teach them how to efficiently get from a to-...huh? What's that about?"

Ultra Magnus had been approaching a crossroad on the city streets, and an unusual sight caught his eye. A black motorcycle was driving across from Ultra Magnus' chosen path, not an unusual sight in itself, but the interesting fact was that the motorcycle was driving along the road- with_out _a driver. A wave of suspicion, mixed with anticipation ran through Ultra Magnus as he stopped at a red traffic light and watched the motorcycle drive down the crossing street, but he wasn't able to wait for the light to change, otherwise the suspicious vehicle would disappear. So, ignoring Tokyo's traffic laws, Ultra Magnus continued on, defying the red light as he joined the crossing street, then he began to turn to drive down the same street as the driver less motorcycle. However, his reckless driving caused a driver to hit his brakes in panic in fear of sideswiping a large truck. As his car screeched to a halt, another car had to brake at the last second, thankfully avoiding a collision, but with seconds the crossroads had been halted as a large, unorganized mess of cars were strewn across the a joining roads. Horns honked, and voices cursing the large car carrier were heard, but they went without care or attention from Ultra Magnus. All that mattered to him was finding out what the story was behind the motorcycle that had no driver.

Ultra Magnus continued on, eager to stop the motorcycle, but with a couple of cars separating himself and the motorcycle, Ultra Magnus could only make sure he kept the motorcycle in his sights. He wasn't able to transform to his robot mode to force the motorcycle to stop, otherwise he would attract the attention of the citizens of Tokyo which he didn't want to do. There was no sense in bringing attention to himself, especially if there was no reason for him to be there in the first place. However, a driverless motorcycle reinforced Ultra Magnus' belief that the Predacons and Decepticons were heading for Earth, or in this case were on Earth already. The motorcycle had to be stopped.

Suddenly, the motorcycle executed an unexpected maneuver as it swung off the road, then followed a smaller trail that took it into an alleyway between a pair of large office buildings. When he found his chance, Ultra Magnus did the same move, as he turned left, which brought him on the trail that cut across the sidewalk and took him into the alleyway but Ultra Magnus stopped in the alleyway in surprise. With his air brakes sending an echoing hiss through the dark alley, Ultra Magnus saw that the motorcycle had simply disappeared. It hadn't driven off anywhere else; it couldn't have, for the at the bottom of the alley was nothing but a dead end, caused by the wall of another office block. Ultra Magnus couldn't believe his robotic eyes.

"Where did that motorbike go?" Ultra Magnus growled. "Ultra Magnus, transform!"

Now transforming to his robot mode, and towering up over the pavement of the alley, Ultra Magnus looked from left to right as he barely fit in between the two buildings. With no obvious place for the motorcycle to go, Ultra Magnus lowered to a knee, then he brushed his right hand across the pavement of the alley, figuring that just perhaps there was some kind of secret entrance to an underground passageway that the motorcycle may have escaped through. But, as his fingers brushed dirt, strewn newspapers and soda cans from the ground, Ultra Magnus found no signs of anything that would suggest there was any kind of trap door beneath him. Ultra Magnus growled in frustration.

"This is impossible, where could that bike go? It had no driver, then it disappeared. I was right; something suspicious is going on here. That motorbike had Decepticon written all over it."

Ultra Magnus took one final look around the alley, then he rose back to his feet. The grinding of his gears echoed through the alley as he stood up, then he heard something else. It was a voice, a human voice, which Ultra Magnus found was coming from an open window in the building beside him as he turned his head.

"Hey, look!" a man cried from the office window. "Guys, come and look at this! It's a huge robot!"

"I'd better get out of here before I attract too much attention." Ultra Magnus murmured to himself. "Vehicle mode!"

Ultra Magnus wasted no time as he quickly transformed to his car carrier mode. With his engine revving as his final parts clicked into place, Ultra Magnus quickly reversed out of the alleyway. He took one final look into the alley, seeing that the office worker insisted he saw a giant robot, to the disbelief of his co-workers, which left Ultra Magnus satisfied that he didn't blow his cover too badly. The large truck rejoined the roads of Tokyo, then he continued on his way. Initially, his drive through Tokyo had been with resolution, as if he knew where he was going, but now, Ultra Magnus had begun to drive through the large city aimlessly. He just followed the roads where they took him as he continuously thought about the black driver less motorcycle he had seen earlier. He replayed the short sequence of events back in his mind; he had seen the motorcycle pass him on the intersection, and he followed it. He was certain that the motorcycle had turned in to the alley, but it had disappeared, seemingly into thin air just before he was able to enter the alley behind it. It wasn't possible that the motorcycle could have disappeared down another alley or slip road, for there were no others on that street. The question, which had to be currently left without an answer left Ultra Magnus bubbling with frustration underneath the disguise of his car carrier form.

"I'll find that motorbike," Ultra Magnus said to himself. "Sooner or later, it'll appear around here, then I'll stop it for sure this time; even if I have to make my presence known to the humans. That motorbike is a Decepticon, I'm sure of it. I'm on to something here."

The large blue and white truck continued on its way. Eventually, Ultra Magnus found himself driving past a residential district which was located towards the outskirt of the main city of Tokyo. As he drove past a road that would have taken him down the residential area, a young man on a red scooter stopped at the end of the street to allow the large car carrier to continue on its way. However, if either Ultra Magnus, or the young man would have recognized each other from a first glance, they would have been shocked to see each other.

The young man who sat on the red scooter, waiting for the large car carrier to drive past was named Koji Onishi. Ten years ago, the young man -then a boy- was a large part of the Transformers war on Earth. His father, Dr. Onishi, who had been the world's foremost expert in the Earth's energy resources, was kidnapped from a symposium in New York City, which led to the boy joining the Autobots regularly at their base in Tokyo in an attempt to help the Autobots get his father back. Now, ten years later, the elementary school boy had grown up and found himself becoming a college student, with his ambition to become a renowned scientist, just as his father was. But today, Koji was not riding his scooter for another day at the college; instead, Koji was on his way to a different location. With a bag on his back, which was filled with letters, Koji drove the opposite way to Ultra Magnus with the engine of his scooter whirring endlessly in the Tokyo air.

His trip, especially on a small scooter, took a considerable amount of time as Koji found himself driving through the main district of Tokyo, through smaller residential areas, until eventually, Koji found himself on a freeway, heading towards the coastline nearest the city. His scooter zipped along the freeway, and Koji began to smell the salt from the sea air as it hit his nostrils; seagulls sung in unison, high up in the sky as they began to look for their lunch and then, Koji got his first glimpse of the beach. All the sights and sounds of the area made a smile tug at Koji's face, for whenever he came to this beach, he was always on his way to visit an old friend. Lately with the pressures that came with being a college student, including homework, Koji had found little time to visit his old friend, but today was finally the first day in a fairly long time that Koji would see his friend. He had ensured he had caught up with all the homework he needed to, and made sure he made no commitments socially with his friends from college to make sure that this day would be completely free of anything and everything that had kept him from coming to the beach sooner. The drive to beach was a long one in the first place, and by the time he returned home after a few hours on the beach, it would be late enough that Koji would only have enough time to grab some dinner, then head to bed to sleep for college the next day.

Koji parked his scooter up on a set of railings located at the end of the parking lot that led to the beach. He left his helmet with his scooter after removing it, then he took a stroll through the parking lot before his feet took the initial steps on the soft, golden sand of the beach. With the ground underneath his feet being softer, Koji had to kick his feet higher into the air to be able to walk at a decent speed across the sand, making it look like Koji was stomping across the beach as opposed to walking like he normally would on the pavement. Despite having a parking lot, Koji looked around the beach, seeing that, like always, the beach was all but deserted. For reasons unknown to the boy, the beach rarely had many guests, except for during the very hottest days of the summer. It was a small beach, near the freeway and out of the way of any popular locations or residential wards, so the beach was always quiet, which actually made it the perfect residence for Koji's friend. Continuing on his walk, Koji followed the beach until he came to a large cliff that was sat at the end of the beach, where the sand was replaced with large boulders and rocks which the ocean gently lapped at. Because of this, the rocks could be hazardous to negotiate, if one wasn't careful, but this didn't deter Koji, for immediately, the twenty year old began to step across the rocks, towards a large hole in the side of the cliff which was the opening for a cave. Eventually, Koji reached the cave mouth, and the uneven path made by the rocks and boulders was once again replaced with a smooth surface that was strewn with sand inside the cave; Koji walked into the cave, seeing that the walls were smooth rock, but only for the first few feet. A deeper inspection into the cave, and one would have noticed that the stone walls became lined with panels of metal that had lights embedded into them, allowing Koji to see the cave clearly, unlike before when he had to rely on the sunlight beaming through the mouth of the cave to see.

As Koji continued to follow the tunnel, the drips of water that he heard in the cave were quickly replaced by the sounds of the clicking of pressed computer keys, along with the inaudible mutterings of another person's voice. Finally, Koji turned a corner in the brightly lit tunnel, finding himself in a large chamber, located within the cave. The chamber, like the tunnel was lined entirely of metal, including the floor, save for a large hole in the center of the chamber, which was filled with water; it was a tunnel that ran under the cave and joined the rest of the ocean outside of the cave, but that wasn't the focus of Koji's attention. In fact, what caught Koji's attention was the large robotic back that was facing him. The robot, who had yet to notice Koji enter the chamber sat in a large chair, staring at the large computer screen in front of him. Various text stared back at the blue, white and yellow robot's face, which the robot read many times over. After mumbling to himself for a few hours, the robot let out a groan before he slammed his white palm into his face. It was then that Koji decided to make his presence known.

"Hey, Sky-Byte!" Koji's voice echoed into the chamber.

His cry caught the attention of Sky-Byte. The robot, once a Predacon had found himself stranded on Earth following the defeat of Galvatron after the Transformers' final battle on Earth. While the Autobots had placed their focus on placing Galvatron in laser chains, along with the Decepticon commandos, Sky-Byte, and his Predacon team- Darkscream, Slapper and Gas Skunk found themselves with an opportunity to flea from the final battlefield. Sky-Byte made a quick get away, but his team mates were not so lucky as they tripped over each other, making such a noise as they began to argue among themselves that they were finally noticed by the Autobots, who apprehended them. This left Sky-Byte hiding behind cover as he watched the Autobots take his comrades away inside Fortress Maximus. He did consider attempting a rescue, but it was then he realized that Galvatron had condemned him to a gruesome death when Sky-Byte found himself trapped in a tunnel with the Decepticon commandos and Omega Prime that was being filled with lava. With that in mind, Sky-Byte instead transformed to his flying shark form and quickly flew away before the Autobots realized he was absent from the party. Then, as Fortress Maximus took off from Earth, Sky-Byte found himself swimming happily in the ocean as the sunset on the final day of the Transformers' war on Earth, with the former Predacon sub-commander finally having a sense of freedom. In the ten years that followed Sky-Byte made a home inside this very cave on the small beach near Tokyo.

"Oh! Oh...it's you, Koji. I wasn't expecting you." Sky-Byte said in surprise to Koji as he looked from his computer.

"I figured." Koji chuckled. "I sure got you there, huh?"

Sky-Byte frowned at Koji's amusement; he never appreciated being the butt of a joke, as he had always seemed to be the object of others entertainment after the Decepticon commandos had been created. Somewhat insulted, due to being a sensitive robot, Sky-Byte turned his attention back to the computer screen in front of him.

"What's brought you here?" Sky-Byte finally asked. "I haven't seen you in some time."

"Yeah, I'm sorry it's been a while." Koji answered. "I've been busy with school lately, and with a lot of hard work, I've spent the nights letting off some steam with my friends. But now I'm here, I can finally give you your mail."

Sky-Byte looked back to Koji, to see that the young man slipped the rucksack he had been carrying from off his shoulder, then after unzipping the rucksack, Koji dumped the contents of the rucksack onto the metal floor. Sky-Byte continued to watch as countless letters fell from the inside of his rucksack, to the ground, where they formed a small pile on the floor before Sky-Byte. The robot then left his seat, where he lowered to a knee then he grabbed the first letter in his fingers. Using the large, armoured claw at the end of his opposite arm, Sky-Byte slashed the envelope open, then his red optics began to scan the text of the letter while Koji looked up to him with silence.

"Ah, another publisher has gotten back to me." Sky-Byte announced. "They wish to publish one of my haiku compilations into Chinese. How gratifying."

"I'm not surprised," Koji replied. "Your haiku books have been doing so well. I bet over half of these letters are actually royalty cheques!"

After the initial novelty of being free, and free to do whatever he pleased on Earth, Sky-Byte remembered how he soon became bored. With that boredom soon came depression, as Sky-Byte began to feel lonely and even though he hated to admit it, he felt regret at not at least attempting to free the Predacons from Fortress Maximus; at least then, he would have had Gas Skunk, Darkscream and Slapper for company. About a year later, Sky-Byte found that he encountered Koji inadvertently, after the Predacon shark became entangled in a fishing line that Koji set out during a deep sea fishing trip he went on with his father.

After a long talk with Koji and his father in the ocean, which must have looked strange to any passers by, Dr. Onishi suggested that Sky-Byte try to find and pursue a hobby to pass the time. There were many failed attempts, including golf, baking and sewing, which caused Sky-Byte to sink even deeper into despair as he felt doomed to remain on the planet Earth with nothing to do but swim the oceans of the world, or view the cities of the world from the sky. He conveyed his sadness one day to Dr. Onishi and Koji through a haiku that he ad-libbed to the pair. The doctor was so impressed by his poetic talents, that Dr. Onishi challenged Sky-Byte to write a book's worth of haikus, and if Sky-Byte did that, then Dr. Onishi would contact a friend he had in the book industry to get his work published. Now, years later, Sky-Byte turned a hobby that he was good at into a successful career. It filled his time, allowed him money to pay for oil and fuel to keep him sustained, and as ridiculous as it may have sounded, his success found him on many daytime shows due to the love he had garnered from his poetry. But, he found that he preferred to be out of the public eye, so he kept himself in a refurbished cave, and had his mail sent to Koji, who would visit him every so often to catch up with his friend and also pass his mail over to him.

Sky-Byte continued to read his letters, and collect his cheques from the envelopes, then he looked back to Koji, who had taken a seat on the metallic floor, in front of his gigantic friend.

"So, how have you been, Sky-Byte?" Koji asked. "You know, I do have a phone. If you actually wanted to talk, you could have called me."

"Busy." Sky-Byte answered. "I've been trying to write another book of poetry, but lately I've found I've encountered the most dreadful enemy I have faced in these last ten years."

"What's that?" Koji asked.

The young man looked up to Sky-Byte, somewhat mystified as Sky-Byte's expression had turned to one of bitterness as he brought the subject of his enemy. With his fist held up in the air in defiance to his enemy, Sky-Byte growled for a few moments, before he dropped his fist, followed by his head as he sighed sadly.

"The enemy...known as writer's block."

Koji looked up at Sky-Byte in silence for a few moments. Then, the right hand corner of his mouth twitched as his feelings tugged at his mouth, forcing him to bear a grin before he quietly snorted. He tried to contain himself, not wanting to express his true feelings to his friend, but his feelings betrayed his attempt at concealment, and Koji found himself beginning to laugh at Sky-Byte's problem. In response, the former Predacon looked up from the floor; his gaze rested on Koji with confusion, as well as a slack jaw, as to why Koji would laugh at such a time.

"What's so amusing?" Sky-Byte asked.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Sky-Byte." Koji apologized through his laughs.

Koji found himself still unable to contain his laughing for a few moments more, before eventually, he was able to calm himself down. He wiped a tear from his left eye before he looked back to Sky-Byte with a genuine smile, while Sky-Byte looked back at Koji, irritated that his friend was so amused.

"Listen, Sky-Byte, I wasn't laughing at you," Koji began to explain. "But what I find so funny is that just over ten years ago, I would never have dreamed that your mortal enemy would be writer's block; I would have guessed that it would have been Optimus Prime, Side Burn or someone like that. It's nice to see that I was right about you all along when I said deep down, you really had a good heart."

"Yes, well even after all this time, I wouldn't regard those characters with fondness." Sky-Byte replied. "I may have changed my ways, but I haven't forgotten all the times they blasted me into the next time zone."

"If you'd have revealed your good side to them sooner, I'm sure they would never have hurt you." Koji replied reassuringly. "Maybe you could have joined them."

"Huh." Sky-Byte muttered. "Join them to follow Optimus Prime, and fall in line with the rest of those pompous do gooders? No thank you! I may not regard my old comrades in a positive light anymore, but there is no way I would ally myself with the Autobots. I sooner would have been scrapped."

"But I think you would have made a good Autobot." Koji proclaimed.

"I always thought I made a better Predacon." Sky-Byte replied. "But those times have long since passed..."

He then lifted his left arm, and gazed at the underneath of it; not too far removed from his wrist, Sky-Byte looked down at a plate of armour on his forearm that had been weathered away, leaving the base silver colour of the metal he was made from, as opposed to any paintwork, like the rest of his body. Sky-Byte recalled how he took an industrial belt sander to his forearm to strip not only his paintwork, but also strip his Predacon insignia from his body. He had done it as a proclamation of his freedom- to show that he was not Predacon, but nor would he be an Autobot; he was his own person, who was in control of his own destiny. Unfortunately for Sky-Byte, though, ten years of solitude had made him miss the camaraderie of his old Predacon days, even if it was of the twisted variety, where a friend would just as soon stab you in the back if it meant they could further their own position in the empire. Still, there were many nights that Sky-Byte would think that at least he would have had company. He had never shared those deeper feelings of his psyche with Koji however, for he didn't want Koji to believe that he wanted to go back to his old ways; the young man would have probably been disappointed by hearing it, and Sky-Byte feared he would lose the only true friend he had left in the universe.

Sky-Byte pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as Koji settled in to spend the afternoon with his friend. The hours dragged on until eventually, the afternoon sky outside of the cave was replaced with the orange light of dusk as the evening had approached.

After watching random comedy on an internet website, Koji and Sky-Byte shared a long laugh before Koji looked at his watch.

"Oh man, it's getting late." Koji announced regretfully. "It's time I got going."

"Are you sure?" Sky-Byte asked. "Would you not wish to watch another video? The things humans get up to when they are bored and have a video camera...it's all really delightful."

"Sorry, but I've got school tomorrow." Koji replied. "It'll be late by the time I get home."

"Very well then," a dejected Sky-Byte answered. "Let me see you out."

Koji picked his empty rucksack back up, slung it over his shoulder before he then walked Sky-Byte's side. The pair strode through the tunnel until they reached the mouth of the cave, and Sky-Byte stood at the opening while Koji carefully negotiated the rocks until he made it back onto the sand of the beach. The pair waved to each other one final time, then Sky-Byte turned and headed back into the cave while Koji made his way back to his scooter. Now alone once again, Sky-Byte let out short sigh.

"Back to the cold isolation of my cave." Sky-Byte said to himself. "Loneliness is a gift if one is wise enough to appreciate it. If only my writer's block would leave me alone, too."

Sky-Byte then said nothing more, instead opting to listen to the rhythm that his echoing footsteps made. He walked back into the main chamber of his cave, circled around the pool of water in the center of the chamber, then he slid himself back into his chair. After crossing his left leg over his right, Sky-Byte looked at his computer screen while rubbing his chin in thought. He shifted in his seat, taking his right hand so that his robotic index finger could begin to manipulate the controls of his computer again, when suddenly, he stopped.

Feeling a tingle on the back of his neck, Sky-Byte quickly spun around in his chair, with his shark spike claw up in the air defensively, thinking that somebody had snuck into his cave. But, he looked around the quiet, still chamber and saw nothing. Sky-Byte's eyes made another sweep of the cave, then he let out a sound of irritation before he spun back around to face his computer.

"How strange." Sky-Byte said to himself. "For a moment I felt as if another Transformer was in here. Huh, like that would ever happen."

Sky-Byte turned his full attention back to his computer to try and tackle his writer's block. He heard the water from the pool in the center of his chamber thrash for a moment, but Sky-Byte didn't seem too bothered by it; he figured it was a fish bobbing up to the surface like they some times did. However, the next sound caused Sky-Byte to literally leap out of his seat. It was a voice! Sky-Byte turned around once again, his shark spike claw risen across his chest, which he quickly lowered again upon seeing a strange sight before him; a large, green swordfish was poking its head out of the pool, looking directly at Sky-Byte.

"What the?" Sky-Byte asked himself. "I know I heard a voice. What's going on here?"

What happened next shocked Sky-Byte so much that his robotic jaw opened and stayed slack as the swordfish grinned to Sky-Byte before it then spoke.

"Since you asked so nicely, I'll explain it to you, Sky-Byte."

"Y-you know my name?" Sky-Byte stuttered.

"Yes indeed," the swordfish answered. "_Sharp Edge, terrorize!_"

Acting upon those words, the swordfish leaped out of the water, causing Sky-Byte to take a step back in surprise. In mid air, the swordfish -which Sky-Byte realized was larger than normal- then began to transform from a larger than normal swordfish into a robotic warrior. The fish's body opened up, revealing a robotic torso on the inside as humanoid legs quickly sprouted out from under the swordfish's tail which folded up onto the robot's back. The swordfish's head then slipped onto the right arm of the warrior which had folded out from the robotic torso, and was replaced with a humanoid head. Detailed like a knight's helmet, most of the warrior's head was a silver, with a large Mohawk streamlined at the top of the helmet. With his transformation now complete, the robot warrior landed gracefully before Sky-Byte, who looked to the Transformer with astonishment.

"It's you." Sky-Byte exclaimed. "It's really you."

"Sky-Byte," the Transformer replied. "You're a tough Predacon to find."

"I don't believe it's really you," was the only thing Sky-Byte felt he could say for a few moments. Then, he continued.

"Sharp Edge. My old first lieutenant from my old ship, the Space Maiden. What brings you all the way to Earth? I figured with the war over, you were either scrapped, imprisoned, or hiding in the outer reaches of space."

"I've come for you, Sky-Byte." said the Predacon, known as Sharp Edge. "I've spent the last few weeks trying to find you."

"Me?" Sky-Byte asked, pointing to himself. "But why?"

"Because the war isn't over." Sharp Edge announced.

"Come again?" A dumbfounded Sky-Byte asked.

"You may have thought it was over," Sharp Edge continued, as he looked to Sky-Byte. "But you only saw things from the Autobots point of view...Ever since news reached us that Galvatron had been captured by Optimus Prime, we Predacons did retreat into the shadows of space. I lived my first few years a beaten mess, doing nothing except wallow in my self pity; but then, I was found."

"Found? By who?"

"My new employer." Sharp Edge answered. "He, along with a ship full of Decepticons took me in. He refueled my long since empty fuel tank, and gave me hope, as well as a renewed sense of purpose. He wishes to destroy the Autobots and take Cybertron back for ourselves!"

"Huh, I've heard that before," muttered a bored Sky-Byte. "Megatron always used to say the same things."

"But Megatron had no grand plan like Cryotek does."

"Cryotek?" Sky-Byte asked, almost in disbelief. "The Predacon criminal overlord?"

"Yes," came the answer. "His plan is subtle and cunning. He knows the Autobots are blissfully unaware of our presence here on Earth. With the Earth free of Autobot protection, myself and the unit I'm with are carrying out our mission here; a vital part of Cryotek's master plan to defeat the Autobots and hand we Predacons the universe on a titanium platter."

"I'm intrigued." Sky-Byte said as he now listened to Sharp Edge with wide eyes. "Do go on."

"I can't." Sharp Edge replied. "Perhaps I've already told you too much. But, my field commander allowed me the time away from the others to search for you. I was aware you weren't taken prisoner aboard Fortress Maximus, so I knew you had to be on Earth. I remember serving under you when we used to plunder the stars, and I knew you would be a welcome edition to Cryotek's Predacon and Decepticon army. I had to find you and get you in on the ground floor."

"Well, that was a long time ago." Sky-Byte muttered, almost with regret. Regret that seemed to confuse Sharp Edge.

"What do you mean?" asked the Predacon swordfish.

"That was the old me, my dear Sharp Edge." Sky-Byte informed, as he turned his back to him. "Ever since I realized how Galvatron had tried to condemn me to a fiery fate, along with Optimus Prime, I realized I never truly had a place in the Predacon empire. I served him near flawlessly, until I became jinxed on this planet. A few mishaps and he rewarded me by trying to send me to the pit. Why would I want to go back to all that, when I have a new life here on Earth?"

Sky-Byte kept his back to Sharp Edge. His old friend was somebody who had seen a different Sky-Byte, thousands of years ago. As captain of a Predacon ship known as the Space Maiden, Sky-Byte led a crew of Predacons like a pirate captain, and like pirates, they terrorized the cosmos, taking energon and planets in the name of Megatron and the Predacons. He knew that Sharp Edge had come to Sky-Byte's lair, expecting to still find that ruthless Predacon sub commander; but Sky-Byte knew that was his old self. The new Sky-Byte was one million times more at peace than his old persona was. It almost shamed Sky-Byte to admit that to his old friend.

There was a few moments of awkward silence as Sky-Byte kept his back to Sharp Edge. Then, the echoing footsteps of Sharp Edge rung through the chamber as Sharp Edge then placed his hand on Sky-Byte's shoulder and forced him to turn around so that they were now face to face.

"That was the past. Forget about it." Sharp Edge told him. "This is a new era; a new army, with a new leader. Cryotek is an excellent leader. If you serve him well, he rewards you with everything you deserve. Megatron was a selfish egomaniac, who would always reward his followers with nothing. Come on, Sky-Byte; what do you say? Come back with me to my commander, and you can help us with our part of the plan- a plan you'll be able to hear all about."

Sky-Byte looked into Sharp Edge's yellow optic sensors, and saw conviction chiseled in them, like words on a slab of granite. With such belief and faith lying behind those words, Sky-Byte wondered, was the Predacon banner under Cryotek's rule everything Sharp Edge was conveying? He wondered, what would it be like to tear across the universe like an unholy plague once more, but this time, doing so under the command of one who would truly recognize his contributions and reward his work. That was all Sky-Byte ever wanted from Megatron, or Galvatron as he was later know. He would have a true purpose in his life; a life that still had thousands of years before it would end. He could travel the universe once again, he would be surrounded by his own kind, and relish in glory!

...But then, Sky-Byte turned his head away from Sharp Edge as he remembered the life he did have on Earth. For the past ten years, he _had _been met with adulation in the past. His appearances on television shows like Oprah had shown him that. His books of haikus had made the world aware that while he looked like a cold hearted machine, there was a compassionate poet underneath his bodywork, capable of making people laugh and cry with his words. His poems were said at weddings, graduations and other events that were special in the humans' lives. He had been told by people that his work had inspired them so much, and that his books meant a lot to them. Even though he had spent the last few years of his life holed up in his cave, Sky-Byte had to admit that was of his own choice. But, that was also because he always felt somewhat unfulfilled in his new life.

Sky-Byte fully turned away from Sharp Edge again, this time with his bowed to the floor as conflicting feelings tore at his mind, as well as his spark, like two children fighting over a teddy bear. He honestly wasn't sure what he wanted more- a peaceful life on Earth, where people loved him for haikus that no Predacon would ever understand. Or, did he want his former glory days back, when beings all over the universe shook in fear at the very name of Sky-Byte. Eventually, he spoke once more.

"I'm sorry, Sharp Edge, but I feel I must pass on your offer. As tempting as it may be, I realize that I am not the ruthless Predacon I once was. I am an artist now; for better or worse."

Sharp Edge's mouth hung open for a moment, for he couldn't believe his former superior officer had fallen from grace so badly. Thinking for a moment, Sharp Edge then looked to Sky-Byte with a grin of determination before he slapped Sky-Byte on the back.

"If it was anyone else, I'd turn them into scrap faster than you could transform," Sharp Edge began. "But, because you were once my captain, and because of our friendship, I'm going to give you an ultimatum. I've spent enough time playing hide and seek looking for, so I need to return to my commander. I'll come back here in the coming days and you can give me your answer then...But, make sure it's the answer I want to hear. Think about it, Sky-Byte: condemnation here on Earth, where you're doomed to rust, or stand alongside us as masters of the universe. I'll leave you with your thoughts, old friend."

With that, Sharp Edge leaped back into the air and transformed back into his robotic swordfish form. Landing perfectly back into the center of the pool, Sharp Edge disappeared into the murky depths, causing a small torrent of water to rain down on Sky-Byte in his wake. Sky-Byte didn't care though. Instead, the former Predacon simply fell backwards, slumping back into his chair as he sighed deeply. Now he was all alone in the silence, Sky-Byte looked at his arm once more. He was fixated upon the patch of his bodywork where he had worn away his Predacon insignia. With Sharp Edge's words flowing through his mind, Sky-Byte was unsure of what to do for the best...

One thing he did know however, was that he had suddenly become inspired to write a new haiku.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

The night came and went. While it had been a restless night for Sky-Byte- who had been wrestling with his personal perplexity, it had been a perfect night's sleep for one woman who lived on the other side of Tokyo. In a large apartment complex, near the center of Tokyo, a young businesswoman awoke from her perfect night's sleep with a smile on her face.

The green haired woman, known to her friends as Kelly, had once been unwittingly somewhat involved in the Transformers war. During that time, the woman had consistently been down on her luck. Whether she was late for work, her flights were canceled, or she crashed her newest car, it seemed to be a low ebb for her. Worse still, when the Transformers came to Earth, she found herself always being chased by Side Burn; however, not because Side Burn wanted her. Strangely enough, Side Burn had a fixation on red sports cars, which were also the kind of cars Kelly always enjoyed and owned. Seemingly every time she was out on the road in her red sports car, Side Burn would chase down the roads of Japan after her, harassing her for her car. She had never known that Side Burn was in fact an alien robot who used the disguise of a Dodge Viper to get around; if she had, she probably would have checked herself in to an insane asylum. But, like everyone else, she knew of the robots in disguise, and their existence on Earth for there were at least three incidents she was involved in with them that she could think of off the top of her head. But never once did she think that the weirdo always chasing after her on the streets of Japan was in fact a Transformer himself.

But with bad times, always come good times. Only two months after the Transformers left Earth, in what was a massive event, reported on and in every media outlet around the world, Kelly found her luck quickly began to change. No longer harassed while going out in her car, she found that her anxiety quickly quelled, and she was able to focus on her job as an executive's secretary more intently than she had been doing while Side Burn prowled the streets. Soon after her standard of work picked up, her boss decided to give her a chance an executive saleswoman, and from there, her career went from strength to strength as she quickly excelled in her job. Things had certainly turned around for her, and now she found that she once again began to enjoy life.

Happily hopping out of bed, Kelly prepared for another hard, but prosperous day at work as she took a shower, brushed her teeth, got dressed, then she went for breakfast. Once in the kitchen, she turned on a small television she had mounted on the wall of her kitchen, just above the breakfast bar as she fixed herself something to eat. As she looked through the contents of her fridge, she listened to the morning news, which was being narrated by a female news anchor.

_"And finally, in a perplexing event: the national museum of art was partially destroyed last night. The museum, which is located in Osaka, Japan, had its roof and much of the central building destroyed. It is not known what exactly caused the destruction of the building, but a security guard who was witness to the event first hand is insisting it was the work of a giant monster."_

The news studio then cut away to a feed of the security guard in question. Standing in front of the partially destroyed museum, that was surrounded in emergency vehicles, and police officers, the security guard, covered in dust and looking incredibly stressed spoke into the microphone that was held by a news reporter.

_"I couldn't believe it- it was like something out of a Godzilla movie! My colleague and I heard a rumbling in the center annex. We ran into the chamber, and we watched in horror as these fingers dug into the ceiling then ripped the roof off it! Then, this...this...monster peered into the museum, looking around as if it was after something. It was then it spotted my colleague and I. He reached down for us, then he snatched my partner up and he quickly crushed him to death...I'm sorry. I don't think I can carry on."_

Now with her breakfast, Kelly sat down at her breakfast bar as she looked up at the television, shocked at the events being reported on the news.

"What a world this is." Kelly announced, talking to herself. "It makes me grateful for all my good fortune these days."

Kelly continued to eat her breakfast as the news station cut away to a commercial break. As she was finishing her first meal of the day, the news returned to the television, and the news anchor began to report on the latest news report of the morning. Kelly placed her plate in her sink and listened to the news anchor while she fixed a drink for herself.

"The Tokyo National Museum is excited to be taking the delivery of a new exhibit today. A new artifact that was discovered under the ocean has been named 'the Pearl of the Pacific', due to its resemblance of a pearl, albeit twenty times larger, is on its way from its sight of discovery off the shore of the state of California in the United States, to Tokyo. It is expected to reach the National Museum at latest by lunch time today. The new exhibition will be open to the public by next Monday..."

It was then that Kelly switched off her television. She rushed from the kitchen into her living room, where she grabbed her briefcase off her coffee table, then she quickly walked out of her front door. Walking down the corridor away from her apartment, Kelly reached the elevator of the building, where she traveled from the eleventh floor of the apartment, all the way down to the basement level. As the elevator doors opened, Kelly found walked out of the elevator and into the apartment building's parking lot. With her clicking heels echoing through the quiet parking lot, Kelly walked past numerous cars, until she stopped before a purple coloured Nissan Skyline. Holding a set of keys towards the car, she pressed a button on her car key and the car beeped as its signal lights flashed twice. Then, with the car disarmed, Kelly slipped into the driver's seat before she threw her briefcase onto the passenger's seat. Starting the car, Kelly slowly began to drive out of the parking lot, careful not to bump into one of the many cars that were lined up in the parking lot.

While Kelly's passion for red sports cars was evident, as her luck began to change and her promotion allowed her to afford a new car, Kelly found herself making another shocking change in her life. Upon visiting a car dealership, her eyes rested on the purple Nissan Skyline that she now owned. Friends and family were shocked on the change in her taste of cars, but Kelly explained it that now her luck with her career and life in general began to change, she thought she'd make a change in her taste of cars, of which she previously had many. She also felt that the purple cruiser was now her good luck charm- a good luck charm she intended to keep longer than any of her other cars, with the average car usually lasting about two to four months under her ownership.

Now on the road, Kelly made the drive from her apartment, across the city center to where her place of work was; a large building that was the national headquarters for an electronics development company. With minutes to spare, Kelly followed the road down into the basement level of the building into its parking lot, and after shoving her work I.D. Card into the parking lot's barrier scanner, the red and white barrier lifted up. Kelly took her pass back, then she drove her car through the parking lot until she found herself a space, then parked up. Mumbling about not wanting to be late, Kelly snatched up her briefcase once again, left her car, armed its security system, then she rushed towards the nearest elevator that would take her up to her office.

With Kelly gone, the purple Nissan sat silent and motionless as more cars passed it. One by one, the cars parked up, and more workers left their cars to rush up into the building to begin their working day. Eventually, shortly after nine o'clock, a stillness fell upon the parking lot as everyone in the building began work. It was then, with the parking lot still and devoid of life that something extraordinary happened as Kelly's purple Nissan's engine ignited.

With the engine softly purring underneath the hood, the car's gearstick quickly shifted inside the car of its own free will, before the car smoothly pulled out from its parking space where it then gently followed the route of the parking lot, towards the exit ramp. The car stopped, finding itself before the closed exit barrier, which was placed there so that the company's employees would be safe in the knowledge that their cars couldn't leave the building without the person who owned them, due to the fact that they needed an I.D. card to raise the barrier. Strangely though, as the car sat before the barrier, the red light on the tail end of the barrier quickly flashed green on its own, indicating that a pass had been put through the system. With the barrier rising up, the purple car trundled out of the parking lot, then it joined the road and began to pick up speed as it accelerated away from the building, still without a driver. Now cruising through the center of Tokyo once again, the car's stereo switched itself on. The news segment of the station's radio show was currently playing, which the car left to play through its speakers as it relayed the events of the night before in Osaka, as well as the news about the deliver of the Pearl of the Pacific. With the news report ending, the car stereo switched itself off.

The car then found itself at a red light, and it slowed to a halt. It stood, with a purring engine, just behind a small green truck. If the truck driver was close enough, the man behind the wheel would have been shocked to hear as a voice quietly spoke, seemingly to itself.

"This is Decepticon Oil Slick reporting in," the Nissan said in a fulsome sounding voice. "I have another lead. I am en route to it right now; I shall check in immediately thereafter."

_"Acknowledged."_ Answered an aging sounding voice through the car's radio. _"As you were."_

The radio message was so short, that the Nissan Skyline, known as the Decepticon, Oil Slick switched off his radio and still had time to sit and wait for the traffic lights to change back to green. As soon as they had, Oil Slick revved his engine, then he rolled from the traffic lights, once again on his way. Knowing his way, the Decepticon drove through the center of Tokyo, eventually making his way out of the heaving metropolis, and out towards the outskirts of the large city. He joined the freeway, putting more distance between himself and Tokyo to pursue his target. He knew that the object he sought, the Pearl of the Pacific, would arrive in the city via an armoured carrier. After initially hearing about the pearl being transported to Japan, the Decepticon hacked into many courier and shipping manifestos to find that the pearl had arrived in the country at 4am that morning at the dock of Osaka, Japan. It was a fact that Oil Slick found rather ironic considering how he had returned from that very city, back into Tokyo only an hour earlier.

Now, he found himself on a freeway for that general direction, knowing that the armoured carrier that held the wanted cargo would have to pass him sooner or later. When it did, Oil Slick would make his move, only this time he would make sure there were no surviving witnesses to his ongoing treasure hunt.

"I now have seven hours to apprehend the target and be back to the human's place of work." Oil Slick said softly to himself. "The humans holding the target better be prompt."

Oil Slick's trip was one of many that he had made while posing as Kelly's Nissan Skyline. In a strange twist, Oil Slick found himself originally scanning the Nissan that was to be sent to the dealership, but in the confusion of transforming right next to it, Oil Slick found himself being placed on a truck which was taken to the car dealership. Oil Slick considered either destroying the truck and making his escape, or simply slipping away once he arrived at the dealership, but his orders stressed that he stay as undercover as possible. He arrived at the dealership, and was placed on the dealership's forecourt, where he figured he would slip away in the middle of the night once everyone was gone. Sadly, within an hour of being on the forecourt, he found himself groaning with irritation as Kelly unwittingly bought the Decepticon then gave it a hug upon receiving the car keys. Since then, Oil Slick continued with his mission while acting as Kelly's car. Like clockwork, whenever she went to work or when she went to bed, Oil Slick would drive off on his own, making sure to be back before Kelly realized he was gone. During the day, Oil Slick would usually drive around, investigating to try and find clues to help in his search for his target, as per his orders. Then, during the nights, if he had found any decent information to go on, Oil Slick would act under the cover of darkness. However, every lead he had came up with nothing, and last night's incident in Osaka was just the latest in the long line of goose chases. Now annoyed by one wrong lead after another, Oil Slick decided to act on his new lead right away and pursue his target in broad daylight, orders be damned.

Oil Slick continued on his way along the freeway that took him further out of Tokyo in a southern direction. Luckily for him, most, if not all of the other people around him that were in their cars and trucks had failed to notice that the purple Skyline that was among them had no driver to speak of inside of it. Oil Slick had been given orders to study all of the Earthlings' laws and culture before he was sent out on his recon mission; in particular, he studied the rules of the roads, especially of those in Japan. Knowing that he could get around the country most inconspicuously as a car, he wanted to remain as incognito as possible, which meant following the humans' rules of the road. Most Decepticons would have balked at the idea of following any kind of laws, especially ones that were decreed by humans, but Oil Slick was smart enough to know that remaining in disguise on Earth meant he didn't arouse even the slightest suspicion. Driving at speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour in a 60 kilometer zone would have garnered him the unwanted attention of the police, so Oil Slick cruised at a steady pace like the rest of the traffic on the freeway so that he blended in among the locals.

Eventually, Oil Slick found his patience had paid off. In the opposite dual lane, that was separated by a concrete column in the middle of the freeway, Oil Slick noticed a black armoured carrier driving in the opposite lane. With red livery that seemingly sparkled in the sun, the van quickly gained Oil Slick's attention. Inside of his cabin, a small monitor switched itself on and immediately, a small red dot began to flash on and off on the screen exactly in the same area where the armoured van was. Oil Slick had found his target.

The Decepticon car immediately went into action. Watching the van driving past him, the Nissan's steering wheel immediately began to turn, forcing the car to turn in the corresponding direction as it headed towards the concrete blockade that separated the dual lanes. With the hard sound of impact that only an accelerating car hitting a concrete object could, people were shocked to see that the car ploughed through the concrete. In a cloud of dust, as well as chunks of rock that flew up into the air and rained down on the freeway, which sent many of the human drivers piling up on the roads in panic, Oil Slick now entered the opposite lane, then he sped up the freeway after his target. Realizing that he broke his own rules about blending in among the other cars and vehicles on the Japanese roads, Oil Slick knew that acquiring the target that was so sought after by he and his team was too important to pass by just so that he could stay concealed. His reckless driving was quickly noticed as the security guard driving the van saw what had happened in his wing mirror.

"Did you see that?" The driver asked the guard in the passenger seat.

"What happened?"

"Somebody collided with the blockade back there," the driver answered.

The driver's colleague quickly shifted in his seat, wound down the window then he looked out of the window for a better look. Almost immediately, after looking back down the freeway, the passenger guard sat back fully in his seat with a frown, then he looked back to the security guard who was driving.

"Do you know what kind of car it was?"

"I'm not sure," the driver replied. "It was purple though, I think."

"If that's the case," the passenger began, "it's now on this side of the freeway!"

"What?" Asked the shocked driver. "It can't be."

The security guard in the passenger seat was about to speak again, but the two guards let out a cry of shock each as the van jerked violently forwards. Being thrown forwards in their seats before their seat belts forced them to jerk fully back in their chairs, the two guards felt as if another car had just bumped them from their rear. The security guard in the passenger seat looked out of his window again, then quickly looked back to the driver in panic.

"That purple car just shot a line onto the van!"

"What?" The driver asked. "What kind of car can do that?"

"I don't know," the other guard replied. "But it's connected to the front of its grill. I think whoever is doing this is after the Pearl."

"Shoot it off." The driver suggested.

The driver's colleague swiftly reached for his small gun that was holstered on his belt. Flipping the cover of his holster, the guard took his gun in his hand and once again, he leaned out of the window; this time leaning further out of the window than before. After telling the driver to keep the van steady, the guard trained his gun at the cable that kept the purple Skyline attached to the armoured can. He narrowed his eyes, concentrating as hard as he could on the line between the two vehicles, then when he was sure he had his best aim, the guard fired a bullet from his gun. With the smoke from the shot filling the guard's nose, he watched in shock as the bullet collided with the cable, but simply bounced off of the cable in a shower of sparks, with the bullet simply landing on the road as the Skyline's tyres ran right over it. Now more flustered than before, the guard slipped back into his seat and informed the horrified driver that the clean shot had no effect. Oil Slick chuckled at the human's feeble attempt at stopping him.

"This is too easy." Oil Slick said to himself. "Now it's time to land this fish."

The Skyline quickly applied its brakes. With the brake peddle inside the car slamming hard to the floor board, the car's tyres became tightly locked in place; tyres screeched so loud that it caused the guards in the van to grimace at the sound. They soon noticed that the van began to slow as it struggled to pull the car along the road. Then, soon after they felt the van slow right down from the resistance the car was offering it, they saw that smoke began to billow from underneath the hood of the van.

"It's not going to last much longer like this." The driver informed his partner. "The van can't even move. Is that car made out of 2 tonnes of lead or something?"

While the guards inside the van had become stressed over what to do next, Oil Slick began to approach the van. Still in his vehicle form, Oil Slick used the winch system that had shot the harpoon and cable into the back of the van to pull him towards the van. As he continued to approach the van, the closer he got to the van, the higher his anticipation became. However, he was quickly shocked as he suddenly felt his line go slack and upon a closer look, Oil Slick watched in surprise as his Cybertronic steel cable had been shot through and separated. He wasn't sure what artillery on Earth could actually penetrate Cybertronic steel, but his wonder was quickly answered as he heard a voice cut through the air, shocking Oil Slick even further.

"_Ultra Magnus, transform!"_

Oil Slick shifted his optic scanners to see the imposing form of Ultra Magnus rising to his feet as he finished his transformation into his robot mode. Quickly, the giant robot then leaped over the concrete blockade so that he stood near the armoured van and Oil Slick; with his blue bolts weapon in hand, Ultra Magnus aimed it down at the purple Nissan, who now sat motionless, thinking over his next move.

"Alright Decepticon, you can show yourself." Ultra Magnus ordered. "You're not fooling anyone."

For once, Oil Slick decided to comply with an Autobot's request as he quickly shifted to his robot mode. With a grin, Oil Slick looked up to Ultra Magnus for the Decepticon's head only came up to Ultra Magnus' chest level. Even though he was grinning arrogantly, deep inside himself, Oil Slick was fuming that his mission had been interrupted by an Autobot- and not just any Autobot, but the brother of the Autobot leader, in fact, who was never known for his discretion. There was silence over a tense few moments as Ultra Magnus glared at Oil Slick with the blue bolts trained on him, while the security guards viewed the stand off in disbelief.

Suddenly, despite the presence of the powerful Autobot, Oil Slick made his move as he lunged for the security van in a bid to grab it, so that he might rip the Pearl out from it to see if the Pearl was the prize he sought after. Unfortunately though, Ultra Magnus watched Oil Slick make a break for the van and with reflexes like a cat, Ultra Magnus took a large step between the van and Oil Slick; quickly intercepting his enemy, Ultra Magnus lashed out with his left forearm, slamming it into Oil Slick's jaw with enough force that Oil Slick fell back to the tarmac with such force that the tarmac shattered underneath it. Oil Slick growled from the indignation of tossed to the ground like an empty energon cube. His torso shifted as he began to sit up, but he quickly froze in place as the end of Ultra Magnus' blue bolts gun was quickly pointed towards his metallic nose. Oil Slick looked from Ultra Magnus to the armoured van when he heard it accelerate; he frowned as he watched the van begin to drive away, with the security guards so shocked by what they had saw that they didn't wish to spend a second longer around the two giant robots.

"Go on, then." Oil Slick then said to his enemy. "Do it. Finish me off."

"You don't tell me what to do, Decepticon." Ultra Magnus answered. "You'll be scrapped when I'm good and ready, but right now I want to know what brought your rust ridden hide to Earth."

"Hm." Oil Slick grinned, "my chassis is the polar opposite of rusty, thank you. Besides, you shouldn't play dumb with me, Autobot. You know why I'm here, otherwise why would you be here?"

"I'm here because I knew you would be," was the answer. "You Decepticons are too predictable."

"If you want to stop me finding the Eye, you're going to need to shoot me right now. You'll only have one chance."

Oil Slick's comment caused Ultra Magnus to lower his guard. Confused by what Oil Slick meant, Ultra Magnus lowered his weapon very slightly with a frown as he looked towards the fallen Oil Slick, who noticed Ultra Magnus' sudden shift in his posture.

"Eye?" Ultra Magnus asked. "What the heck are you babbling about?"

"Hmm..." Oil Slick murmured. "Well, let me put it to you like this. _Oil Slinger!_"

With Ultra Magnus' guard down, Oil Slick took advantage of his lax position as he prepared his oil slinger attack. Raising his right hand into the air, a small hole opened up in Oil Slick's black palm. Then, thrusting his hand from right to left, Ultra Magnus was shocked as a stream of oil flew from Oil Slick's palm, where it landed in Ultra Magnus' face; the large Autobot let out a cry of surprise as he found himself blinded due to the thick, blinding oil that now covered his yellow optic sensors. He reached up with his left hand, attempting to wipe the oil from out of his eyes, but before he could wipe the oil from his face, Ultra Magnus found his legs buckle under him as Oil Slick kicked Ultra Magnus in the back of the right leg before flipping back up to his own feet as he watched Ultra Magnus hit the tarmac just as hard -if not harder- than what Oil Slick did. He chuckled for a moment as Ultra Magnus continued to wipe his eyes to clear his vision.

"So you're ignorant to the Eye?" Oil Slick asked, grinning. "Suits me just fine. If you don't know _what _it is, then you won't know _where _it is, leaving me to get on with my job. Ciao, Autobot."

"You're not going anywhere!" Ultra Magnus roared as he sat up. "Eat this!"

Having wiped most of the oil from his face, Ultra Magnus raised the blue bolts weapon that he still clutched tightly in his hand. As the weapon was aimed at Oil Slick, the gatling gun on the weapon began to spin rapidly, then with the deafening sound of rapid fire, many small orange blasts were expelled from the multiple barrels in the gatling gun as Ultra Magnus fired off round after round from his gatling gun on his enemy. The shots landed against Oil Slick's front, pelting the Decepticon without reprieve, forcing him to stumble back as he grumbled in pain and discomfort from the hurting that the rounds caused him as they slammed against his armour. Eventually, after shot after shot, Oil Slick felt his armour begin to chip away from his body while Ultra Magnus continued to pour the firepower on Oil Slick. Ultra Magnus then rose to his feet, after which he took his finger off the trigger which caused the gatling gun to cease fire, much to the relief of the battered Oil Slick, but Ultra Magnus didn't yield his attack for the purpose of showing mercy...

"_Ultra Kick!"_

The jet pack on Ultra Magnus' back roared into life; flames spewed from the two exhausts on his back, the force of which pushed his heavy frame into the air. As he began to rise into the air, Ultra Magnus noticed with an angry look that Oil Slick began to slowly move to his feet- no doubt to make an escape. With Oil Slick back on his feet, Ultra Magnus' jet pack quickly shut off, and the large Autobot began to drop towards Oil Slick. With his right foot extended, Ultra Magnus' foot collided with Oil Slick's chest plate, sending Oil Slick flying back through the air before he crashed to the tarmac once more, which was torn up by the Decepticon as he slid across the road. With Oil Slick knocked down once again, Ultra Magnus ran up to him as he landed on his feet, ready to continue his assault on his enemy. But, as Ultra Magnus stood over Oil Slick again, the Decepticon used his oil slinger attack once more, this time forcing the oil to splatter against Ultra Magnus' chest. Then, as the oil began to drip down his chest, Oil Slick raised his left arm up at Ultra Magnus' chest. The plate on the upside of his forearm opened up as a cannon barrel raised up from out of his forearm, where it was aimed at Ultra Magnus. Without a word, Oil Slick made his attack count for a stream of fire spewed from his weapon, which was in actual fact, a flamethrower. The fire spat through the air and collided with Ultra Magnus' chest which ignited the combustible liquid on Ultra Magnus' body.

"You're looking hot under the collar, Autobot." Oil Slick chuckled, now rising to his feet once more. "Now if you don't mind, I shall take my leave."

Despite the pain he was suffering as the flames ate away at his upper body, Ultra Magnus couldn't let Oil Slick escape; he had to disable the Decepticon and somehow find out what exactly this mysterious eye he talked about was, and why he sought after it. Letting out another roar, the fire covered Autobot rushed at Oil Slick, who now stood motionless as he was taken by surprise at Ultra Magnus' bold and unexpected movements. As Ultra Magnus got close enough to Oil Slick, Ultra Magnus sprung off his legs, leaping and clearing the distance between he and Oil Slick as he hit a flying tackle on Oil Slick, who fell backwards against the Autobot's body. Consequently, the pair collided with the concrete wall on the end of the freeway; the pair immediately crashed through it, then they found themselves beginning to drop through the air as the freeway had been constructed some seventy feet over a shallow marsh land bay. With chunks of concrete falling around them as they both dropped, Oil Slick and Ultra Magnus found themselves separated while they dropped through the air, before they landed harshly in the water and marshland beneath them. Fortunately for Ultra Magnus, he found that as he landed chest first, the water smothered the flames that had continued to burn on his chest, sending steam streaming off of his chest. On his hands and knees now, he looked to a weary looking Oil Slick, who stumbled to his feet.

"It's become clear to me that you're not going to let me walk away until you're a pile of nuts and bolts." Oil Slick surmised. "I was going to let you live, but you're leaving me no option here."

"You destroy me?" Ultra Magnus groaned as he stood with a charred chest. "Don't make me laugh. You're the one who's going down! Come on!"

With that, the pair charged at each other. They were throwing caution and their better judgment to the wind. Oil Slick, despite wishing to get out of the fight as soon as possible now decided he would have to destroy Ultra Magnus before he could continue on with his mission; Ultra Magnus discarded with his original plan to interrogate Oil Slick, instead settling on destroying the nuisance. It would be one less Decepticon among the numbers of the universe and he could extract any information from Oil Slick by reading the remains of information from the CPU of Oil Slick's decapitated head.

Immersed only ankle deep in the water, the pair met once again as they collided against each other after their charge. Immediately, the pair grabbed each other as they began to grapple in an attempt to wrestle the other into the water and deal with their respective opponent. Even though Ultra Magnus was much stronger than he was, Oil Slick summoned all the strength and grit he could muster to give Ultra Magnus a run for his money, which he did so, surprising Ultra Magnus, who found he was having a job of throwing Oil Slick down to the ground. The pair continued to struggle, grunting and growling as they glared towards each other. Then suddenly, as they continued to wrestle, Ultra Magnus' face relaxed softly as he realized that Oil Slick was beginning to show less resistance as he began to weaken under Ultra Magnus' intensity. With the Decepticon now weakening underneath him, Ultra Magnus tightened his grip on his enemy. He prepared to lift Oil Slick up off of his feet, with plans to throw the Decepticon into the water, but what happened next came unexpected, putting the screws to Ultra Magnus' plan.

The sound of laser fire echoed through the air, taking both of the battling Transformers' attention away from each other, just for a brief second. The second was all they needed as they looked up into the air to see an orange laser beam dropping from the freeway as it made their way towards them. Together, the pair shoved themselves away from each other in an attempt to dodge the incoming laser blast. Unfortunately, they both found themselves slow to react to the unexpected attack as the laser blast collided with the water between them, but the blast created enough of an impact that it threw Oil Slick and Ultra Magnus off their feet, where they crashed back into the water, this time on their backs. Slowly, Ultra Magnus sat up and he looked up towards the overpass; a new enemy had presented themselves, filling Ultra Magnus with the need to defend himself.

Immediately, Ultra Magnus saw his target as a robotic head peered over the concrete wall on the freeway as the head looked down towards the pair in the water. With a growl, Ultra Magnus snatched his firearm from out of the water, aimed it up into the air before he pulled the trigger which reactivated the gatling gun, sending a hail of ammunition up towards the overpass. Regrettably, Ultra Magnus watched as the figure on the overpass quickly jumped away from the wall and certain harm from Ultra Magnus' attack. Ultra Magnus now cried out with frustration as his firepower missed the assailant above him, so he flipped to his feet, then he activated his jet pack and Ultra Magnus took off into the air with the intention of making the attacker regretful of interjecting themselves into his and Oil Slick's battle. But, as he climbed into the air, eventually flying over the freeway, Ultra Magnus began to look around with frustration to see that the aggressor had disappeared. Landing on the tarmac once more, Ultra Magnus stood among many cars that had now been abandoned by panicked drivers who had watched the two Transformers fight each other. Looking left to right, Ultra Magnus desperately looked around, attempting to find the attacker, but alas, he had seemingly disappeared.

"That's impossible," Ultra Magnus noted. "Where did this new Decepticon go?"

Ultra Magnus continued to look around, but if the robot who interrupted the pair was indeed a Decepticon, no doubt he or she would have been long gone, due to the fact that most vehicle modes would have them either long down the road, or high in the sky by the time Ultra Magnus landed on the freeway. A familiar sound quickly caught Ultra Magnus' attention, whose head snapped back to the broken concrete wall. He rushed to the hole in the wall, which he then peered through before he let out a cry of anger to see that the sound he had heard was indeed what he had thought it was; Oil Slick had transformed to his vehicle mode, and began to accelerate away, despite being in water. Urgently, Ultra Magnus raised his blue bolts weapon once more, then he let off some more firepower from his gatling gun, but the shots missed their target, instead slamming into the water, sending large splashes of water high up into the sky which sparkled in the sunlight. Ultra Magnus considered pursuing Oil Slick, and he was about to, but as he began to move, his energon levels indicated he was now low on energy, and the damage he had sustained during the battle was more than minor. Pursuing Oil Slick at that point could prove to be a rash and costly mistake if Oil Slick had energy to spare. So instead, Ultra Magnus allowed himself a cry of anger before he slammed the blue bolts weapon to the ground in frustration as Oil Slick had disappeared into the distance.

"Matrix damn it!" Ultra Magnus roared. "He got away. If it wasn't for that other scrapheap interfering, I'd have that Decepticon's head in my hand right now."

Ultra Magnus walked away from the broken wall on the freeway, where he picked up his firearm and he continued to walk some way down the freeway. Now seemingly calm after the wave of anger washed through him, Ultra Magnus then stopped in his stride, and rested the blue bolts on his shoulder before he looked to the sky in thought.

"Well, if anything has come out of it, at least it means I was right. The Decepticons are back on Earth, at least, just like I thought they would be. I don't know what this..._eye _is that the piece of trash Decepticon is after, but the next time I find him -or his motorcycle friend- they won't get away. They'll have to tell me what I know, and when I know what they're after, I'll be able to throw a monkey wrench into their plans. If only Prime would have listened to me, then maybe we'd be in a better position. It looks like it's up to me to fix things, so fixing things is what I'm gonna do."

Ultra Magnus figured it would be best to withdraw before any more humans came along to see him first hand. He quickly transformed to his vehicular form before he then drove away to consider his next move while he sought to some repairs and getting himself recharged.

Meanwhile, driving in the opposite direction entirely was Oil Slick, who finally left the water and found himself on the roads once more. Damaged himself, Oil Slick decided to allow the Pearl to head to its destination without any further interference for himself. He joined the freeway once more and doubled back as he returned to Tokyo. Eventually, he continued to drive until he made his way through Tokyo, careful to ensure that he didn't encounter Ultra Magnus on the way through, whom he figured was lurking somewhere in the great city. Out of the city, Oil Slick traveled along the roads until he sped through the countryside, eventually taking him to the world famous Mount Fuji. The purple car bypassed the mountain, instead making a path for one of the dense forests that surrounded the mountain. At the edge of a forest, Oil Slick stopped, then he transformed to his robot mode. He stood only as tall as some of the younger trees, and with the floor of the forest littered with large rocks and other debris, Oil Slick was forced to push through the limbs and bushes of the trees while carefully walking across the ground of the forest. Eventually, after disturbing much of the wildlife that lived in the forest, Oil Slick found himself in a large clearing in the center of the forest. Due to the forest's density, it was virtually impossible for mere humans to walk through it, but as Oil Slick had just proven, Transformers were able to walk through it, provided they were careful enough not to trip over any of the many natural objects of nature that were in the forest. Because of this, the forest was the perfect hiding place for a small space ship, which sat in the clearing before Oil Slick.

The small ship, coloured in purple metal sat still and silent, until that is, a figure was seen moving through the orange window at the front of the ship. Oil Slick watched as the shadowy figure noticed him in the clearing, then the figure walked away from the window and out of the ship's control room and a few seconds later, a door located in the side of the ship opened, before a ramp lowered from the door with the hiss of hydraulics. After the ramp pressed against the grass of the clearing, Oil Slick limped up the ramp, into the dark interior of the ship. With the ramp retracting and the door closing behind him, Oil Slick limped through the weaving corridors of the shuttle until he found himself inside the control room at the front of the ship, where he met the shadowy figure who noticed him standing outside and granted him entry into the ship.

The figure, who stood taller than he, looked down at Oil Slick with a red visor and without a mouth, instead having a mouth plate. Painted in a tan colour that resembled the paint job that desert military vehicles bore, the figure had large, orange rotor blades atop his shoulder that added to his already large height, as well as giving him a broader look to his frame than he actually had. He was also distinct in the fact he had no hands; instead, at the end of his arms were the ends of warheads, five poking out of the end of each arm. Oil Slick looked up to the figure with a serious look that he rarely wore, but he did so out of respect of the Decepticon he stood before.

"Oil Slick," the figure began in an aging voice. "I did not expect to see you return so soon, let alone looking as battered as you are. Explain yourself."

"I had to return, commander Obsidian." Oil Slick answered. "But I do so with less than good news, I'm afraid. It appears we have an Autobot, here on Earth."

The Decepticon, known as Obsidian, looked towards Oil Slick as his visor surged with power, causing an eerie red glow to illuminate his mostly tanned face. He considered Oil Slick's words for a moment, then he spoke again, in the same calm tone he had before.

"An Autobot?" Obsidian echoed. "Curious. Do they know why we are here?"

"I don't think so." Oil Slick replied. "The Autobot didn't seem to know of the Eye when I mentioned it in passing. In fact, he seemed so puzzled over it that he lowered his guard to me."

"So, he doesn't know of the Eye?" Obsidian asked. "Then that poses an interesting question as to why an Autobot would have returned to Earth...Did he mention if there were others with him?"

"No," Oil Slick said. "But during our skirmish, we were interrupted by an attack from another. I don't know if it was an Autobot, Decepticon or even a Predacon, but the way he reacted to it leaves me to believe that perhaps he is alone."

For a moment, Obsidian was silent. He took his attention away from Oil Slick and made his way over to the main computer of the bridge of the ship. He pressed a button on the computer, then spoke into a microphone beside it, informing all hands to report to the bridge, and after his order echoed through the ship, Obsidian looked back to Oil Slick and spoke once more.

"Is it not possible that the Autobots know of our presence here on Earth. Did the Autobot mention if he knew we were here?"

"He did mention that he knew we'd come back." Oil Slick answered, after some thought. "The way he said it however makes me believe he just guessed we'd come back. I don't think he knew for sure that we'd be here."

"A lucky guess, then..." Obsidian thought aloud.

The conversation between Obsidian and Oil Slick was interrupted as the door to the bridge opened once again as this time, a group of three Decepticons walked onto the bridge. Obsidian looked, seeing that the three Decepticons were comprised of a black Decepticon with piercing orange eyes as well as a silver Deception with a purple helmet, orange visor and no mouth. Walking just in front of them was the smallest Decepticon of the group in the room; fairly rotund, because of the motorcycle parts that comprised his upper body, the smallest Decepticon was coloured completely black, including his optics, and like the silver Decepticon and Obsidian had no mouth, but instead a mouth plate. The trio stood near Oil Slick as Obsidian looked among all of them.

"Where is Sharp Edge?" Obsidian asked the group.

"Beats me," the motorcycle Decepticon announced with a voice that resembled one of a New Yorker. "Ain't seen him."

"Very well, he must still be out looking for Sky-Byte." Obsidian assumed. "So, Axer," he continued, referring to the motorcycle Decepticon. "You were the only other one of us out in the open...Oil Slick mentioned that during a battle with an Autobot earlier, they were interrupted by a third attacker...was it you?"

"Not me, boss." Axer said with a shake of his head. "I ain't seen no Autobot...Wait! There are Autobots here now?"

"Nobody said there would be Autobots here," said the silver Decepticon, named Skyfire.

"Who cares?" The other black Decepticon, named Wind Sheer asked with a wicked grin. "If there are Autobots back on this boring pebble of a planet, then we'll get to have some fun shooting them!"

"Enough." Obsidian said to restore order among his crew. "Whether there is one Autobot on Earth, or one hundred, it doesn't matter. The Eye of Unicron must be found; that is our objective here on Earth."

"You know if those do-gooders are here that they're gonna stop us." Wind Sheer argued. "We should waste 'em before we look for that dumb bauble."

"The Eye of Unicron is no bauble." Obsidian corrected. "It is the object that will give our new leader the ability to annihilate our enemies, and that sacred object is somewhere here, on Earth. Don't concern yourselves with the Autobots -we shall deal with them on an as and when basis- our number one priority is to find the Eye of Unicron. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" The group of four Decepticons announced to their commander.

"Excellent." Obsidian replied with a nod. "However, the Autobot presence on Earth _does _alter things somewhat. We will need to make our search more efficient so that we can find the Eye sooner...Skyfire, Wind Sheer- I want you both to scan an Earthern form so that you can join Axer and Oil Slick in the search. I shall also have Sharp Edge take on the responsibility also when he returns, hopefully with an extra member to our ranks."

"Bah, you shouldn't rely on Predacons, boss." Axer informed his commander. "Good for nothing Preds. Their beast forms can't cover as much distance as we can in one day."

"There are no differences among the Decepticons and Predacons when both sides' enemies are the Autobots." Obsidian said sternly. "Now return to your recon, Axer. The Eye of Unicron is still out there somewhere. Find it."

"I shall return to the search as soon as I have made some repairs." Oil Slick announced to Obsidian as Axer left.

"Negative." Obsidian replied. "The Autobot that you encountered may be looking for you, so you should lie low here for the moment."

"But then that means that the human's car I pose as has disappeared." Oil Slick argued. "My best chance of cover will be gone. I thought we were supposed to remain inconspicuous."

"If there are Autobots on Earth, I doubt we shall be able to keep ourselves hidden among the Earthlings for much longer." Obsidian said. "But very well; see to your repairs, then return to the human. But, you are to remain inactive for the time being. Monitor the airwaves for clues to the Eye's location until I inform you otherwise. Now, leave me. I must use this time to plan our next move."


	5. Ep 5 Hostilities

**Episode 5- Hostilities**

**Chapter 1**

Ultra Magnus was rarely ever in a good mood. Today, he was _not _bucking the trend.

As the blue and white truck thundered along the streets of Tokyo, now carrying many dents and scrapes, the thundering roar coming from his engine caused the pedestrians through the city to turn their heads as they thought that the very car carrier itself sounded angry- little did they know that their passing thought was in fact the whole truth of the matter.

The last few hours had been a mixture of triumph and tragedy for Ultra Magnus. He had arrived to Earth without a hitch, going so far as to even evade any detection from the Earth's different armies so that he slipped through the net. He had docked his ship in the ocean, and made it back into Japan, again without anyone being any of the wiser. Also, his initial hunch since he left Cybertron had been correct: the enemy had come to Earth, or at least, the Decepticons had. He wasn't sure why they were on Earth, but the fact remained that they were on Earth and so posed a threat to not only the Earth, but the universe as well. With Galvatron also once again at large, Ultra Magnus knew it was only a matter of time before the Earth was haunted by his terror once more, so he had to take steps to ensure that he was ready to repel the impending menace.

But how to do it? That was the question weighing heavily on Ultra Magnus' mind at the current time. He had thought about calling back to Cybertron for help, but for all Ultra Magnus' physical qualities, there were many faults to his personality and one of the main faults to his personality was his stubborn nature. Whenever he had an argument with Optimus Prime, especially heated ones, like he had when he last saw his brother, Ultra Magnus could never bring himself to be the one to initiate contact between himself and his brother; it was always Optimus Prime who needed to take the first step in resuming their talks. So, calling Cybertron for help was out of the question considering his on again-off again relationship with Optimus Prime was undeniably off at the moment. The only thing he could do was face them alone, but with that plan came great risks. Even though he didn't want to admit it, Oil Slick had given Ultra Magnus a run for his energon, thanks to his sneaky abilities and dirty tricks. Not only that, but it was unknown how many Decepticons were actually on Earth, as was evident by the interruption that occurred during Magnus' fight with Oil Slick. Ultra Magnus finally settled on the thought there were two options with dealing with the Decepticons on Earth; to pick them off one, by one, or somehow group them together then destroy them all with one large literal bang- perhaps with the aid of a bomb.

But then an even greater question came as Ultra Magnus wondered how he could do that. He would first need a way of tracking the Decepticons down whenever they appeared. His own on board scanners and radars only worked so well. He could use the detectors on his ship, but then the problem that faced him there was leaving the ship and getting to the destination in time enough before his enemies had fled. A solution needed to be found, and it didn't take Ultra Magnus much longer to find one as he soon turned at the nearest opportunity.

"It's time to get myself reestablished here." Ultra Magnus said to himself.

The car carrier continued on its way through Tokyo, until it eventually found itself nearing a large parking lot that was situated in a tower block. Immediately, Ultra Magnus quickly swerved, following the road to the entrance of the parking lot and he surprised the driver in front of him, who was parked and taking a ticket. Impatiently, Ultra Magnus honked his air horn, which echoed with great bass through the ground floor of the parking lot, but soon the car before Ultra Magnus drove into the parking lot as Ultra Magnus slowly began to follow the car, not bothering to take the ticket that came out of the machine for him. The barrier was about to drop down, following the previous driver's entrance, but the barrier simply smacked against Ultra Magnus' cab and bounced back to the upright position, allowing Ultra Magnus free access into the parking lot. Eventually, Ultra Magnus found himself at the very rear of the parking lot. When the area was completely devoid of any human presence, the car carrier sat before the wall, then Ultra Magnus sent a signal out from his cab.

What happened next would have caused a human to jump in disbelief, for after the silent, electronic signal left Ultra Magnus' cab, the wall rumbled, before it slowly rose like it was a mere garage door. After a few moments, the wall had completely risen, showing a passageway behind it, the dimensions of which were actually much larger in height than the ground floor of the parking lot. Ultra Magnus drove into the passageway. As soon as he was through, the wall came back to a close behind him as Ultra Magnus continued to drive down the passageway, which immediately had given Ultra Magnus a sense of suspicion, for the lights in the passageway -that he had expected to be off- were on to completely illuminate the passage.

"That's weird." Ultra Magnus said to himself. "I could have sworn the lights were turned off..."

Recalling his last day on Earth with the Autobots, Ultra Magnus remembered how just before they left the planet inside Fortress Maximus, the Autobots had said goodbye to T-AI, the humanoid holographic avatar that represented Cybertron base's computer. After an emotional goodbye from most of the Autobots, as well as Koji, Ultra Magnus remembered how Optimus Prime threw the kill switch on Cybertron base's power supply and T-AI faded away from existence. The computers shut themselves down, and the global space bridge network that the Autobots used to get around the Earth in minutes had also shut down. Then finally, the lights had fizzled out, forcing the Autobots to leave with only the lights from their headlamps to light up their exit.

But now the lights were back on, and Ultra Magnus wondered why. It could have been that some freak occurrence had happened by chance, like a power surge, and the base's power supply had been reactivated. Some humans may have discovered their base, taken it over and turned it into some kind of factory or office block. Or worse, and what was actually Ultra Magnus' suspicion- the Earthbound Decepticons, like the one he had encountered earlier could have found it and began to use it for their own purpose. They needed a place on Earth to establish as a command post from which to fulfill their intentions on Earth, and what better place than a base that was tailor made from them- right down to computers they knew how to use, and a base with the right dimensions.

"So the lights are on, but as far as I'm concerned, no one's home." Ultra Magnus mumbled to himself. "Time to find out who's crashing here."

While still in the large passageway, Ultra Magnus slowed himself to a complete stop, then he transformed to his robot form after ensuring to execute his stealth mode so that he transformed silently. Now in his robotic form once more, Ultra Magnus took the blue bolts, then he quickly placed his back against the right hand wall, where the lights on the ceiling failed to hit that part of the passageway. So now, keeping to the shadows, Ultra Magnus slowly and stealthily sidled through the passageway, until he found himself able to see the main chamber of Cybertron base. Still in the cover of the shadows, Ultra Magnus watched silently to see that the electrics were in fact online in the entire base, for the Teletran-1 system was reactivated and the computers, the screens of which flashed with different images, were fully functional. He considered moving into the main chamber to see if T-AI was also up and running, but just as he made the decision to move he stopped as footsteps from somewhere in the room gave away the presence of another.

With that, Ultra Magnus slunk back further into the corridor so that he was further in the cover of the shadows. Watching on, he noticed that a large figure walked into his line of sight. With their back to Ultra Magnus, he watched a large robot walk towards to the chamber's main computer. With an upper body that was mostly white, broad, and had large, powerful jet boosters mounted onto their back, Ultra Magnus immediately recognized that the Transformer- probably a Decepticon, judging by its mechanical additions- was powerful enough to give the already weakened Ultra Magnus a challenge. Powerful or not, though, Ultra Magnus knew that the probable Decepticon had gained access to a facility that belonged to the Autobots and was therefore under his jurisdiction as the only Autobot on Earth. He couldn't let the enemy freely walk about the base, or even worse, extract secrets from the computer's databanks. Quickly, Ultra Magnus armed his gatling gun with a click, then he pointed it towards the back of the large jet Transformer.

With the click of the trigger, Ultra Magnus kept his aim steady as countless shots flew from the rotating gatling gun that followed the ear splitting sounds that a firing gun would make. It was these sounds that made the Transformer jump with surprise, and as the Transformer turned around, he was met by being pelted by the first round of Ultra Magnus' fire. Quickly though, the Transformer leaped to the right, out of Ultra Magnus' sight, and therefore out of his line of fire. Ultra Magnus ceased his fire, then began to quickly move forwards so that he could perhaps take control of the main chamber, but he stopped as he heard the enemy let out a roar.

"_Twin Gyro Cannons!"_

Ultra Magnus' yellow eyes widened in shock as a pair of red laser bolts that crackled with white energy around the outside of them flew down the corridor towards him. Reacting quickly, Ultra Magnus dropped with his front to the floor, allowing the laser blasts to fly harmlessly down the corridor, where they collided with the beginning of the passageway. After the final rumbles of the laser blasts colliding with the interior of the base, there was a pause of silence. Ultra Magnus stayed low on the floor, silently looking to see if his enemy would be inquisitive enough to walk out to see if his shots had struck their intended target- Ultra Magnus himself.

He watched and waited in silence, then Ultra Magnus found himself feeling the surge of surprise to see the Transformer once again walk into his view. Within an instant, Ultra Magnus raised his firearm once again, but this time he fired the laser cannon of his artillery, which sent a laser blast of his own. Instantly, the enemy quickly withdrew, once again launching himself behind the cover of the wall to avoid the blast, which regrettably collided with one of the computers inside the base's main chamber. An explosion thundered through the main chamber, sending a lashing of flames spewing out of the main chamber and down into the passageway, once again forcing Ultra Magnus to lie low as the flames washed over him. Then, as the flames died, Ultra Magnus realized that a power surge quickly rushed through the base where with a loud _crack, _the power to the entire complex once again died, shrouding Ultra Magnus, and his enemy in complete darkness.

Feeling exposed despite the darkness, Ultra Magnus rolled to the right hand wall once again, then he slid himself up the wall so that he stood with his back against it so that he was better concealed.

"Alright!" Ultra Magnus shouted to gain his enemy's attention. "I'm gonna give you one chance, buddy; what are you doing here?"

"Me?" The enemy called back. "I pose the same question to you, invader! This base is under my jurisdiction."

Ultra Magnus stayed silent as he began to hear the enemy's footsteps once again. Judging by the sound, Ultra Magnus thought, the enemy was walking from behind the wall he ducked behind, was walking out of the main chamber and into the corridor towards him. Ultra Magnus shifted himself just a little more so that he was completely out of the way, and he continued to listen to the footsteps. The echoes came closer to his right robotic ear, past his right ear, then the steps echoed to a stop right in front of him...

"Heh, shows what you know." Ultra Magnus retorted to the dark. "This place might have been abandoned for ten years, but I'm taking custody of it now. The Earthlings have a saying- never foul in another dog's yard!"

With that, Ultra Magnus sprung into action. He heard the echoing footsteps of his opponent in the dark after he spoke. Figuring that the mysterious assailant had turned around to face him, Ultra Magnus leaped from against the wall. With his body lurched forwards, Ultra Magnus felt his wide right shoulder collide with part of his opponent's body- his stomach, if Ultra Magnus had to guess. With all his weight and momentum behind him, Ultra Magnus felt his opponent begin to fall backwards, where a couple of seconds later, the grunts of the two was overwhelmed with a violent sounding clash as Ultra Magnus and his opponent slammed against the metal floor. The sound of the collision echoed through the darkness. Quickly gaining his wits from changing positions so quickly in the dark, Ultra Magnus allowed his weight to rest on his opponent's torso, while his knees also pressed against the floor, and with his blue bolts gun lying on the ground beside him, Ultra Magnus took the opportunity to reach for his opponent's throat with his free hands. But, as he reached for where he figured the mysterious person's throat would be, he felt a tight pressure on his wrists; strong fingers had wrapped around his wrists, and Ultra Magnus felt a great resistance against his arms as his opponent had grabbed Ultra Magnus' wrists and was trying to resist him. Together, the pair grunted with exertion as they pitted their strength against one another- for Ultra Magnus, he tried to use his strength to break free from his opponent's grip so that he could continue his assault; for the mysterious figure, they were trying to stop Ultra Magnus from doing just that.

"You made a big mistake breaking in here." Ultra Magnus growled as he attempted to wrest his arms free. "You're going to pay for it!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the opposition groaned. "This is Autobot property..."

Ultra Magnus listened to his opponent's words, wondering what exactly he meant by that statement. But, as he reflected on the words that came in reply, he then heard something else- a familiar sound. It was the sound of heavy footsteps; heavy footsteps that had very short intervals between them, signifying that somebody was sprinting, and judging from the sound, someone was sprinting towards Ultra Magnus and his opponent from behind. Reacting quickly, Ultra Magnus turned his head over his shoulder, to see if he could make out anything- even an outline, if somebody was coming at him. All he found however, was a heavy hit to his faceplate, which by the feel of it, came from a tightly balled up fist.

Enraged, Ultra Magnus opened his mouth to cry out at the new assailant, but before he could, he was surprised to feel a great compression on his throat. The compression worsened after a second, and after feeling that the compression was actually a set of fingers tightly gripped around his throat, Ultra Magnus choked in surprise as he felt somebody grip him tightly by the throat, before he was then grabbed by the shoulder with another, and then hoisted upwards. Whoever had grabbed him had a great deal of strength, Ultra Magnus thought, in surprise. Then, through all the continuous sounds of the struggle, Ultra Magnus heard a new voice, one he assumed was from the new attacker.

"Boss, tell me this ain't you I got in my grip."

"No..." said the other. "It's not me, Landshark...thankfully."

"Great," the other assailant, known as Landshark announced. "In that case, take this, Predacon!"

_Predacon? _

Ultra Magnus was puzzled by the statements being made in the dark. It was quite fitting actually, that everything was shrouded in darkness, for Ultra Magnus was completely in the dark as to _who _the two beings were, and what their relationship was to each other, as well as their business in the Autobots' Earthern base. He didn't have time to think about it, though, as Ultra Magnus felt another heavy blow to his face as the second assailant dealt him another punch to the face, with such force that Ultra Magnus stumbled back against one of the walls of the base. As he stood, hunched against the wall, Ultra Magnus felt, thanks to his countless years of being involved in skirmishes that another blow was heading towards him. Ducking down, Magnus found he was right as he heard another violent collision- only this one was against the metal wall he had been hunched up against. Magnus' second mysterious attacker then let out a grunt from striking the wall. It was then Ultra Magnus decided to counter attack by balling his right hand into a fist, which he threw up into the air from his crouched position. It was sheer guess work, but Ultra Magnus found his fist violently colliding with what he figured to be his opponent's chin in a painful uppercut. With a cry, and the sound of another body hitting the metal floor beneath him, Ultra Magnus knew he had taken the advantage back by striking down the second of his opponents. But this time, he was going to use the advantage he had to the fullest extent possibly. The time for playing was over, and in Ultra Magnus' mind, the idiot who had stupidity to attack him was about to pay for it with his life...

In those moments that passed though, any fatal thoughts Ultra Magnus had were wiped away for a second, as a hum of power was heard in the dark, and in the next moment, Ultra Magnus found his sight overwhelmed by the bright lights of Autobot HQ as they suddenly flared back into life. Ultra Magnus shielded his eyes with his left forearm as he let out a growl of irritation, and if he could be bold enough to admit, slight pain from the strain the light had put on his robotic eyes.

With eyes beginning to readjust to the light though, and Ultra Magnus found himself able to lower his forearm away from his eyes before he looked down at his target, who had also needed to cover his eyes from the bright light. His opponent was a giant robot, much like himself. With a mostly earthy green body and orange forearms, Ultra Magnus noticed tyres embedded in the back of the robot's legs. No doubt then, his opponent was a Decepticon. Ultra Magnus approached the fallen warrior, ready to think of a way to destroy him swiftly, so he that he could move on to fighting his original opponent. But, as he approached the fallen warrior, the insignia on his chest caused Ultra Magnus to stop in surprise. His fallen, blinded opponent was an Autobot.

"Autobot?" Ultra Magnus cried in disbelief. "But..."

"Yes..." Ultra Magnus heard the other person in his vicinity groan. "He is an Autobot, just as I am, Ultra Magnus."

Ultra Magnus' attention turned from the Autobot on the ground, whose face was masked by a green helmet that contained a blue visor. Looking across the floor, Ultra Magnus saw the other warrior, who identified himself as a Autobot. Mostly blue and white in colour, from head to toe, Ultra Magnus saw that this Autobot was distinguished by a set of wings sprouting from his back. His face mouth was covered by a yellow and silver faceplate, while blue eyes now shone towards Ultra Magnus, who recognized the figure crouched on the floor, and therefore looked to him with disdain.

"King Atlas." Ultra Magnus spat. "I should have figured it was you, considering the words you use, and your poor fighting skills."

"I should have guessed it was you also, Magnus." King Atlas said, as he rose to his feet, where he stood as tall as Ultra Magnus. "Who else would rush headfirst into a fight without taking the time to consider the situation?"

"What the heck are you doing here?" Ultra Magnus demanded, ignoring King Atlas' statement. "The last I heard, this base was unmanned, then I find you and your lackey here."

"Who are you calling lackey?" The green Autobot cried, as he now stood with the others. "You're lucky I didn't crush your head into the wall."

"Pft. Whatever, rookie." Ultra Magnus scoffed, which only caused the other Autobot known as Landshark's temper to worsen.

"Say that again!" Landshark cried to Ultra Magnus, despite their differing height. "Come on, I dare you."

"Landshark, stop." King Atlas announced firmly to Landshark.

To emphasize his point, King Atlas placed his hand on Landshark's chest and pushed him back slightly to physically force him to stand down. Looking at Landshark until he looked to have a slightly calmer demeanour, King Atlas then turned back to Ultra Magnus, who had since retrieved his weaponry from the floor.

"To answer your question, Optimus Prime sent orders to Cybertron that a unit of Autobots was to be stationed back on Earth immediately, due to the threat of an enemy attack. I was chosen, along with Landshark and a few others, who I'm sure you will meet shortly. But, why are you here, Ultra Magnus? The last I heard, you had left Cybertron after an altercation with Optimus Prime."

"I'm here because I'm the only one with enough foresight to know there's an attack coming." Ultra Magnus announced. "Justice-01 was hit, and the Predacon-Decepticon forces are planning to start the war on Earth all over again."

Both King Atlas and Landshark listened to Ultra Magnus' explanation, and although neither of them had the ability to read the others' mind, they both had the same question as to how Ultra Magnus knew all of this. They were both about to ask, but they were interrupted by another quick set of footsteps approaching their position. All heads turned towards the epicenter of the sound to see a red and blue Autobot rushing towards them, with optic sensors that conveyed worry underneath a visor.

"Atlas," the Autobot spoke, as he saw that he approached his commander. "I've got some bad news. I was just out on the highway, and I caught a visual of a Decepticon. You're not going to believe this, but he was fighting Ultra Mag..."

The Autobot, Smokescreen stopped in the middle of his sentence as out of the corner of his vision, he had noticed a third Autobot, as big as King Atlas. Turning his head, Smokescreen took in the third Autobot in his entirety before his facial expression shifted to convey surprise to see that the third Autobot was in fact, Ultra Magnus himself.

"Ultra Magnus!" Smokescreen exclaimed.

"That's right." Ultra Magnus replied. "That was me you saw out on the highway..."

Ultra Magnus moved. Barging past King Atlas, Ultra Magnus walked slowly, almost menacingly towards Smokescreen, who was considerably shorter than he was. Stopping right in front of Smokescreen, Ultra Magnus glared down towards Smokescreen, then with a growl, Ultra Magnus grabbed Smokescreen violently by the shoulder and pulled him off the floor, so that Smokescreen was closer to his face.

"That was also me you shot!" Ultra Magnus then bellowed. "What was the big idea?"

Then, quickly, Ultra Magnus thrust his arm and loosened his grip on Smokescreen, who flew away from the large, imposing Autobot, only to crash down to the floor.

"I didn't realize it was you." Smokescreen announced in a slightly shaken voice, due to being thrown around. "I would have stayed around, but I was beginning to attract the attention of the nearby humans, and..."

"Save it." Ultra Magnus snapped, uninterested in Smokescreen's explanation. "I don't care about your excuses; all I care about is that you allowed that Decepticon to get away!"

"It was obviously an accident!" Landshark said sharply, as he spoke on Smokescreen's behalf. "What's wrong? The big, bad Ultra Magnus can't take a stray laser blast?"

"You can shut up too, you clown." Ultra Magnus spat towards Landshark. "What you say is unimportant."

"Stop it!" King Atlas announced to quell an argument for the second time. "Ultra Magnus, as Landshark said, it must have been a poorly placed shot. No doubt Smokescreen was aiming for the Decepticon. It's unfortunate he got away, but we should be collectively turning our attention to the fact there are at least Decepticons on Earth, and we should be planning out what to do about them."

"Collectively?" Ultra Magnus echoed. "As in, we work together?...Here's my plan, Atlas. You three grab whoever else you've got wondering around here, take your little ship and fly back to Cybertron so Optimus can coddle you, and you can leave me on Earth to get on with it. I don't need your help; I'll take care of the Predacons and Decepticons all by myself."

With that, Ultra Magnus -who hadn't bothered to look back towards King Atlas- took a powerful step forwards, then he began to walk, glaring down towards Smokescreen all the while as he began to walk. His footsteps, which echoed almost with anger through the Autobots' headquarters in silence, until King Atlas took a step forwards him, his right arm reached out towards Ultra Magnus before he spoke again.

"This is an unadvised course of action." King Atlas stated towards Ultra Magnus. "There's strength in numbers, Ultra Magnus. Stay with us, and help us fight the enemy that's returned; don't work against us."

King Atlas' words had the desired effect, as Ultra Magnus stopped in mid stride. His last footstep echoed through the halls, and only when the echoing sound faded away into nothingness did the giant blue and white robot look over his shoulder, back towards where King Atlas, Landshark and Smokescreen were. The rest of Ultra Magnus' body followed his gaze, and the large Autobot turned around so that he faced the trio again. With his yellow electrical eyes almost blazing, even in the re-illuminated halls of the Autobots' headquarters, Ultra Magnus' white face contorted into one of anger before he spoke again, this time even harsher than before.

"It's not advised?" Ultra Magnus echoed, almost mockingly. "Who are you to advise me on anything? The last I checked, I'm the guy who _should _be the Autobot leader, while you're nothing more than one of Prime's little lap dogs in his inner circle of higher ups, Atlas. Get this straight- don't advise me, and don't you tell me anything; be it what to do, when, or how to do it. I take orders -or advice- from nobody. Now, are you going to let me leave, or am I going to have to prove my point to you?"

"Should be Autobot leader, in your own glitched up mind." Landshark spat. "There's a reason Optimus is the Prime, and you aren't. He doesn't need to try and throw his weight around and have tantrums like an under developed protoform just to prove a point. You're nothing, Magnus. I say, if you want to go out there on your own and get turned into Swiss cheese by Predacon and Decepticon weapons fire, I say go ahead! The Autobots would be much better off without you!"

Ultra Magnus' eyes narrowed towards Landshark, who now stood in front of King Atlas and Smokescreen in a defiant stance. Ultra Magnus was a large, imposing Autobot and unlike most of the Autobots, Ultra Magnus could accused of having a bullying personality; if he didn't get his own way, he would get by force. It was obvious what Landshark was trying to do. He wanted to goad Ultra Magnus into a fight. Like Ultra Magnus, Landshark had a large chip on his shoulder, and the infamous Autobot's presence around Landshark seemed to give Landshark the urge to try and start a confrontation with Ultra Magnus any way he could...He was about to have his wish granted.

With his eyes still narrowed at Landshark, Ultra Magnus grunted; with his grip tightening on the handle of the blue bolts, Ultra Magnus rotated his shoulder, raising his arm so that his multi purpose firearm rose from pointing towards the ground, now pointing up towards Landshark. Within a second of raising the gun, Ultra Magnus squeezed the trigger, and the gatling gun mounted in the firearm began to spin, and as it did so, the sound of machine gun fire began to ring out through the hall. Bright flashes of light began to fly out from the many small barrels of the gatling gun out towards the three Autobots as King Atlas and Smokescreen dove for cover- but the heavier armoured Landshark stood his ground, instead opting to shield the front of his body with his large forearms. Shots peppered his large, reinforced arms, but instead of the shots ripping through his appendages, large scorch marks were left on his arms, leaving some pain to course through his arms, but nothing that gave Landshark any fatal damage. Now lowering his still smoking arms, Landshark looked up to see that Ultra Magnus was beginning to walk on his way out of the Autobots base...but Landshark wasn't prepared to let Ultra Magnus leave after doing such a thing to him. Quickly, Landshark began to run towards Ultra Magnus and as he did, he felt his own anger begin to rise even further as he got closer and closer towards the large Autobot. Then, when he was sure he could reach, Landshark stopped running; he placed his weight into his legs, Landshark leaped off the ground towards Ultra Magnus and wrapped his long, heavy arms around Ultra Magnus' torso. With his weight and momentum, Landshark tackled Ultra Magnus, where the pair dropped towards the ground, with the both of them landing on the floor with a heavy slam.

"Get off me!" Ultra Magnus roared.

"You're not going anywhere without a fight." Landshark grunted, as Ultra Magnus lay on his front. "You want to leave now, you're going to have to go through me."

"Suits me fine!"

Grunting angrily, Ultra Magnus bent his arm, then he quickly turned his torso at the hips. Despite being underneath the weight of the large Landshark, Ultra Magnus was able to swing his elbow through the air, where it collided with Landshark's head with enough force that Ultra Magnus was able to force Landshark off of him. Within seconds, both Autobots were on their feet, glaring at each other once again. Quickly, the pair rushed at each other, with their bodies crashing together as the sound of metal slamming upon metal rang out through the halls of the Autobot base. With his height advantage, Ultra Magnus was able to easily wrap his right arm around Landshark's head in a headlock. Keeping a tight grip on Landshark's head, Ultra Magnus tensed up his arm even more, ultimately forcing more pressure down upon Landshark's head. But, Landshark, not willing to submit to Ultra Magnus' grip, slipped his hands together as if holding a club, which he slammed violently into Ultra Magnus' torso as hard as he could. Blow after blow were landed upon Ultra Magnus' body, but still Ultra Magnus kept his grip on Landshark as tight as he could.

All of this was viewed by King Atlas, who, despite wanting Landshark and Ultra Magnus to stop fighting, which was not only wasting their own energy, but also wasting time; the potential to damage each other was also high. But, despite wanting the pair to cease their pointless fight, King Atlas knew that Ultra Magnus and Landshark were too alike, in the fact that they were volatile and headstrong. He had tried to diffuse the situation earlier, and that ultimately failed.

"Magnus looks like he's going to rip Landshark's head off." Smokescreen noted.

"Yes." King Atlas replied, as he looked down to his Twin Gyro Cannons, which he now held. "We'll have to stop them. I don't wish to use these, however."

It was then that a realization hit King Atlas. The lights were back on in the Autobots base, meaning that the power was back online. If the power was back on, perhaps other systems were restored as well. So quickly, King Atlas activated his radio.

"T-AI, this is King Atlas. Respond."

"_Hello, King Atlas." _the voice of a young girl responded in King Atlas' radio. The base's main computer was now back online.

"T-AI, activate your incapacity bonds. Target Ultra Magnus and Landshark." King Atlas ordered.

A response didn't come from T-AI. Instead, King Atlas looked on and watched as Ultra Magnus and Landshark were still locked in combat. Suddenly, there was a distinct sound, almost resembling a whip; a noise so loud, that as Ultra Magnus continued to squeeze down on Landshark's head, his own head suddenly looked towards the ceiling for a second upon hearing the sound. He was surprised to hear it. Then, something else happened that Ultra Magnus wasn't expecting, as he suddenly felt a searing hot pain course through his body in vibrating waves. With the epicenter of the pain coming from the middle of his torso, Ultra Magnus let out a cry of pain; his arms were suddenly squeezed from Landshark's head, where they were forced to his sides. He continued to scream out in pain, as a large golden band of crackling electrical energy surrounded the middle of his large body, as if he had been lassoed by the crackling golden energy, which whipped and hissed with every moment Ultra Magnus made. Landshark wasn't spared this fate, as he too was suddenly overcome by the same thing, being trapped by the electrical bonds. But, as Ultra Magnus staggered about the floor, screaming in pain, Landshark simply dropped to the floor, the sounds of pain also echoing from his mouth, and while it seemed to last for many agonizing minutes for the pair of them, in reality, the attack that was initiated from the Autobots' computer lasted mere seconds. The bonds left Ultra Magnus and Landshark as quickly as they had arrived, leaving the pair of them pain riddled and stunned as wisps of black smoked flowed from their respective bodies which were now burned from the electrical attack.

"That's enough." King Atlas announced sternly. "Magnus, if you don't wish to join us, then that's fine. But now, I'm going to ask you to leave. I don't want anymore harm to fall down upon my soldiers."

"Fine." Ultra Magnus responded as he clutched the elbow of his right arm. "I'll go. But in the future, you'd all better stay out of my way..."

Once again, Ultra Magnus turned and strode off; this time, he wasn't pursued by Landshark, who instead continued to lie on the floor, still overwhelmed by the power of the electrical incapacity bonds. King Atlas and Smokescreen rushed over to the fallen Landshark as soon as Ultra Magnus had limped out of sight. Together, the pair took to a knee and began to assist Landshark off the floor. He protested audibly, due to the pain coursing through his body through the burns.

"Stop protesting." King Atlas said to Landshark. "If I left you to the mercies of Ultra Magnus, you would have probably ended up feeling _much _worse."

"That's what you think..." Landshark hissed.

"I guess it was a convenient time for Swerve and Flare to reactivate the mains." Smokescreen announced.

"Yes." King Atlas nodded in response. "But, it will take some time for the global space bridge to defragment. I can only hope it is a quick turnaround, though. With the space bridge down, the Decepticons on Earth, and Ultra Magnus wondering around, we are already finding ourselves to be hard pressed..."

**Chapter 2**

By the time Ultra Magnus had traveled through Tokyo, and back to the shore, night had fallen. Fortunately the part of the shore the large car carrier had stopped at was given very little light, due to the fact not much traffic -vehicular or otherwise- usually went that way, so Ultra Magnus went unnoticed in the cover of darkness as he transformed to his robot mode and made his way back into the ocean. Pain continued to course through his torso, due to the burns that had been left by the electrical bonds back at the Autobot base, and Ultra Magnus could only scowl to himself as he felt the hiss of the laser burns be caressed by the cool water of the ocean. It was a mixture of relief and irritation, but all it did was make Ultra Magnus' temper worsen as it was a constant reminder that he left a fight on the losing end- something that rarely happened to him.

_-They'll pay for that.-_ Ultra Magnus thought to himself, as he was now underwater. _-Someday I'll make them all see the error of their ways. I should be the Autobot leader. I take charge. They're all just too afraid to follow somebody who's prepared to do what needs to be done without having to pacify everyone else.-_

Eventually, after some time of swimming deep under the ocean, Ultra Magnus was met with the familiar sight of his spaceship. Gracefully, Ultra Magnus swam even deeper, so that he approached the seabed, which the ship was now resting on. As he reached where the door he exited the ship was located, Ultra Magnus repositioned himself in the water so that he was vertical to the door before he opened it and then swam in, being sure to close the door quickly behind him so that the room wasn't completely overflown with water. Saying nothing, he walked from the door, and exited the room as the water dripped off his body, where it left large puddles on the floor; something that didn't escape his notice.

"I'm probably gonna have to find a new place to park this crate." Ultra Magnus said aloud. "The water's not going to do it any favours before long."

Ultra Magnus put the thought to the back of his mind momentarily. He had more pressing matters to attend to, first of which was repairing the damage caused to his body from his earlier encounter. He was actually surprised that the Autobot base's defenses were actually able to pack as much damage to his body as they did. But, as he thought that, the Autobot's macho nature immediately reasoned that he was probably tired after his long flight from Cybertron, as well as his earlier encounter with the Decepticon he had clashed with earlier. It definitely wasn't down to his tussle with Landshark! If anything, Ultra Magnus was convinced he would have crushed Landshark's head like a grape, hadn't T-AI have intervened when she did.

Another door opened before Ultra Magnus; this one revealing the control room of the ship. Stepping inside, Ultra Magnus took in his surroundings, then his gaze traveled towards a large pod that rested in the center of the room. White in colour, the pod was hinged in the center. An oval pane of glass was at the top of the pod at one end, and in the center of the pod, a small keyboard was connected to the pod, the keys of which were illuminated by a red colour. The pod, which was a repair chamber, was Ultra Magnus' first port of call. Spending some time in the chamber would replenish Ultra Magnus' now flagging energon levels, and also take away the annoying burns that wrapped around his torso like some kind of torturous belt. Now standing in front of the repair chamber, the white fingers of Ultra Magnus' right hand pattered about the red keys, which bleeped in response. After a series of different button presses, the repair chamber emitted a small hiss, then the lid of chamber opened in the same way a door would.

"Can't spend too much time laying around." Ultra Magnus said to himself. "A 30 minute cycle should be enough time."

With the repair chamber now fully programmed for his needs, Ultra Magnus took his weaponry, which he had magnetically clamped onto his back. Holding it in his hand, Ultra Magnus propped the large gatling gun and laser cannons against one of the walls of the control room before he turned to walk back to the repair chamber. The cushion lined interior of the repair chamber awaited him, which Ultra Magnus climbed into; sitting on the edge of the chamber at first, then lying his upper body back and swinging his legs onto the cushioning afterward. Then, with the chamber sensing Ultra Magnus had lay down, the lid began to close with another hiss. Ultra Magnus listened to the lid of the chamber lock with a click, then his sense of hearing picked up a fairly loud hum of the repair chamber and the usually uptight Autobot let out a small sigh as his body relaxed in the confines of the chamber. Staying motionless, Ultra Magnus watched as a bright beam of white light passed over him- from the bottom of his feet, to the top of his head, the white beam of white set about repairing Ultra Magnus' wounds, while also beaming energon into his body like waves of radiation. As he lay in the chamber, Ultra Magnus knew that he needed a longer bout of time in the repair chamber. The long intervals he would take between uses meant that Ultra Magnus would ideally require a few hours in the chamber to take him back to his peak levels of physical strength and energy. But, as usual, Ultra Magnus' gung ho attitude forced him to feel that only a short interval would be enough for him. After all, in his mind, being at half of his full strength still made him more powerful than any other Transformer who wished to oppose him.

Eventually, 30 minutes had passed. After the white beam of light made its last sweep of Ultra Magnus' body, the hum that had constantly rung through the chamber came to an abrupt halt, and was replaced with a melodic _ding dong. _With a hiss and a click, Ultra Magnus watched as the lid of the chamber opened back up. Ultra Magnus sat up once the lid had fully opened, then he stood up, allowing himself a quick stretch of his arms and legs after spending the last half an hour laying in the confines of the repair chamber. He then looked over his body to check his wounds. He found that the laser burn he had suffered earlier had been fully repaired, but unfortunately, the knocks and dents he had suffered during his battle with Oil Slick still remained. The burns he had also suffered from Oil Slick had faded considerably, but they were still there. But still, the 30 minutes he had allowed himself had expired, and Ultra Magnus had to get back to work. He could always find the time for another spout in the repair chamber later for his harsher wounds.

Moving from the repair chamber, Ultra Magnus sat himself in the chair before the main computer of his ship. He pressed a button, and immediately, the many screens that surrounded Ultra Magnus switched back to life, casting a warm, green glow on Magnus' face as his yellow eyes paid particular attention to a screen to his left- a radar that covered a few hundred miles of his current position on the ocean floor. He sat motionless, with a dark scowl upon his face whilst his eyes were glued to this single screen. Inside himself, Ultra Magnus felt what could almost be described a bubble; a bubble that was growing inside of him and filling his body with pressure- the pressure of anticipation. He wished for the radar to show anything unusual: Decepticons activity, or Predacon activity. It didn't matter to him; all he wished for was to see a small blip appear on the screen that meant his ship's computer picked up an enemy within a few hundred miles. He was becoming a bot obsessed. But, in Ultra Magnus' own mind, his obsession was justified. If only more Autobots were obsessed with crushing the Predacons and Decepticons like he was, then maybe they would be no threat to the universe by now...

Although, in the back of his mind, Ultra Magnus knew he was obsessively looking for the enemy once more, to avenge the damage that was done to him in his earlier battle against Oil Slick. The Decepticon seemed to get the better of Ultra Magnus, by leaving the large Autobot a few wounds to remember him by and then escaping relatively Scott-free. If Ultra Magnus was extremely honest with himself, the truth of the matter was that his failed attempt to disable Oil Slick stuck in his craw. It was the kind of thing he'd accused Optimus Prime of doing, and Ultra Magnus wasn't like Optimus Prime. In his own mind, Ultra Magnus was convinced he was superior. With that mindset, it was inexcusable that Oil Slick had gotten away.

"Come on." Ultra Magnus said quietly to the radar. "Give me something- anything. There's got to be a Decepticon or Predacon slithering around somewhere...You'd figure if there's something here that they're after, then they'd be swarming the country."

Eventually, Ultra Magnus' patience bore fruit. Some hours later, well into the night, as Ultra Magnus continued to sit, fixated on the radar screen, a beeping sound came form the radar that caught his attention. Upon closer inspection, Ultra Magnus could see one purple blip- which then separated into two blips. Both blips, which the radar indicated were in the sky, were flying erratically- far too erratically for the blips to be piloted by any human pilots. It was the enemy, and Ultra Magnus was sure of it. He quickly swiveled around in his chair so that he face the rest of the ship's control room. He rose to his feet, where he rushed across the room, but not before picking up the blue bolts. Clutching it by the handle in his right hand, Ultra Magnus slapped the gatling gun with his left hand, which caused it to spin for a moment. After hearing the gatling gun click several times, Ultra Magnus lifted the blue bolts over his head and allowed it to magnetically clamp onto his back.

With his weapon to hand, Ultra Magnus left the control room of his ship, now more determined than ever to pay the enemy back for earlier transgressions, and to get to the bottom of their mission once and for all. Within minutes, Ultra Magnus found himself swimming from his ship, back towards the bay of Tokyo, so that he could pursue his enemies before it was too late. It was during his swim that Ultra Magnus began to reflect on the purpose of the Predacons' and Decepticons' return to Earth. What exactly was The Eye of Unicron? He had never heard of such a thing before, even back during the peak of the Predacons terrorism on Earth, and the collective Predacon/Decepticon exploits of the stars. Their attacks and evil schemes were always to plunder the galaxy for different sources of energy that they could use to power their empire and take complete control of the universe. There were many planets that they had taken control of, but Cybertron -the evil robots' native home- was the one planet that was always beyond their grasp. It had been an Autobot controlled planet for centuries. Ultra Magnus knew his enemies were desperate to gain control of Cybertron, and use it as the capitol of their ruling empire, and while Ultra Magnus didn't know what exactly The Eye of Unicron was, he figured it was a tool to ultimately aid them in their efforts to take Cybertron. Also, while Ultra Magnus was ignorant as to what the mysterious object was, the name _Unicron _bore some significance. Unfortunately though, he couldn't quite remember what it was. All he remembered was that it was a name brought up by Alpha Trion during one of his many teachings to Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime.

No doubt that do-gooder, Optimus Prime knew exactly what it was.

Just then, Ultra Magnus felt the pressure around his head change, as it pierced the surface of the ocean and Ultra Magnus was met with the cool breeze coming off the ocean. Looking around in the dark, Ultra Magnus saw that no human eyes were currently present- a fortunate occurrence, for it allowed the Autobot to make his way back to the shore without any witnesses. With that, he swam back to the shore, where he quickly rushed up the deserted beach, leaving giant footsteps in the sand. Then, just as his right foot touched the quiet road, Ultra Magnus swiftly transformed back to his car carrier form to further ensure that his presence would be undetected. His engine now roaring, and his headlights illuminating the seaside road, Ultra Magnus began to drive along the road to catch up with his enemies.

As Ultra Magnus continued to drive, he activated a direct link to his ship's computer; he did this so that he could download the information from his ship's radar, so that he could follow the enemy. A monitor, that was housed towards the ceiling of his cab immediately switched on, so once again, Ultra Magnus could see the blips on the radar screen. They were quickly heading out of Tokyo, obviously with intent- intentions that no doubt would do Ultra Magnus, the Autobots, and the people of Earth no favours. With that thought driving his mindset, Ultra Magnus shifted to a higher gear, and with that gear shift, another roar came from Ultra Magnus' engine- one that reflected his mood and caused the car carrier to increase its speed along the road. Time was of the essence; if Ultra Magnus wanted to catch those Predacons and/or Decepticons, Ultra Magnus needed to make the most of every second he had.

For what felt like an age, Ultra Magnus continued to follow the path that the enemy continued to travel on, with the path taking him onto a highway. He had left Tokyo far back, and was currently following a road for the north. As he continued to thunder on the highways of Japan, Ultra Magnus began to make a menace of himself- something that was probably unintentional, due to the fact he was trying to catch up with his enemies. But, just because it was unintentional didn't mean that Ultra Magnus was regretful for it. As he thundered along the highway at speeds that couldn't be matched by the Earthern cars around him, drivers found themselves literally being forced out of the fast lane he was traveling on or face being rear ended by the juggernaut of a blue and white truck that was eating the road like a hungry demon. Drivers honked their horns, flashed their headlights and waved their fists at Ultra Magnus; but he didn't care.

"Stupid humans." Ultra Magnus muttered, now irritated. "I'm trying to do your species a favour here...Get out of the way!"

Ultra Magnus' exclamation was due to his anxiety heightening. As he had continued to monitor his radar, Ultra Magnus had noticed that the blips had not only slowed right down, but they seemed to be staying in the vicinity of a city- a city that was not too far away from his current situation. The city, named Mito, was the capital city of the Ibaraki prefecture. Mito was an administrative city, and Ultra Magnus wasn't sure what exactly would be in a modest city that his enemies could want. However, despite his questions, the location didn't change the urgency of the situation in his eyes. Ultra Magnus began to honk his own horn, which resembled the sound of a thoroughly angry elephant. He began to intimidate more cars in front of him to get out of the way. However, as Ultra Magnus continued to drive, becoming faster and faster with every foot his tyres claimed, he found himself that he was going so fast that as he continued to speed along the highway, his bumper clipped the rear wing of a sports car full of teenagers. The collision, despite being fairly light did no real damage to either Ultra Magnus, or the car, but thanks to the power of Ultra Magnus, the driver of the sports car -a 19 year old- immediately lost control of his car, and the car ultimately began to spin across the highway. Fortunately, despite the sports car spinning out of control, that was the worst of the incident, as due to the late hours, the few other drivers on the highway at that point saw the incident ahead, and they immediately slowed down so they could drive around the sports car and continue on their way. However, sitting on a ramp that joined onto the highway Ultra Magnus was traveling on, and caused the accident, was a police car. Seeing the incident unfold before their very eyes, the two police officers immediately went into action as the cars sirens wailed, the lights began to flash as the police car then immediately roared down the ramp and joined the highway, in pursuit of Ultra Magnus- the perpetrator of the incident.

Despite the loud, flashing police car speeding behind him in a desperate attempt to get him to pull over, Ultra Magnus was too focused on getting into Mito to notice them. However, after another mile, Ultra Magnus finally noticed the continuous wailing of the police car's siren behind him. Ultra Magnus' robotic brain allowed itself a look to his rear, noticing that the police car was right behind him, with the two police officers in the car with their sights locked on his own bumper. If they were pursuing somebody else ahead, they would passed Ultra Magnus by now.

"Now what?" Ultra Magnus asked himself. "Don't they have a bank robbery to crash, or something? I don't have time to waste with the police."

"Would the driver of the blue and white car transporter please pull over in the next lay by." a voice, Ultra Magnus suddenly heard, as the voice echoed from the police car via a megaphone system. "Failure to comply will be looked upon as resisting arrest."

"Oh, please." Ultra Magnus muttered.

Ultra Magnus needed to shake the pursuing police car off his tail, so that he could continue to find his enemies without any humans getting in the way; he had just the thing for it. As the police car continued to pursue Ultra Magnus, the police officer in the passenger seat of the police car suddenly noticed that the car carrier's tail lights seemed to glow brighter. At first, it could have been possible that it was the truck's brake lights flaring into life to signal that the truck was coming to a stop. But, a second glance showed that it was the truck's tail lights instead. Before the officer could say anything to his partner, who was the driver, the tail lights, which had continued to glow brighter and brighter, then seemed to give off sparks- the kind that would appear following a large charge of static energy. In a flash, the static sparks suddenly shot away from the truck's tail lights and they immediately struck the grill on the police car.

"What was that?" The driving officer cried in alarm.

"I don't know." The other police officer said, in puzzlement.

Before the two police officers could question what had happened, they found themselves with another query, for suddenly, the wailing siren of the police car went from a powerful wail, to a wimpering and then...nothing. As the police siren was silenced, the driver of the police car felt the power of the driving engine suddenly cut out, and the police car was simply rolling on the kinetic energy that the car's tyres had built up. Finally, all the lights inside the car's cabin, as well as the lights on the exterior of the car immediately died. Before long, the two police officers found that the car, now without any power had slowed to a complete stop. All the two police officers could do then was look out of the windshield with looks of surprise as the car carrier disappeared into the night.

"That was easy," Ultra Magnus murmured as he thundered along the highway. "Next, the 'cons will fall just as easily."

Ultra Magnus continued to drive. Taking a right, the car carrier followed a ramp that slowed down from the highway. Now on a surface road, Ultra Magnus found that the road ran alongside a large river, which ran towards a city. Mito was just ahead. In top gear, Ultra Magnus followed the road, where he quickly found himself rolling into the city. As Ultra Magnus now began to rush through the city, which was fairly quiet and deserted due to the late hour, Ultra Magnus noticed that the blips on his radar had become stationary, with the location being on a mile away.

Following the twisting roads, Ultra Magnus eventually found himself coming to a large plot of land in the center of the city, that was free of housing. What was located on the large concrete plot of land, which also doubled as a parking lot, were many different buildings, with a large spire like building standing proudly in the center of the group of buildings, almost as if the spire was the facility's crown jewel. Ultra Magnus continued to drive, coming to a stop as he rolled up beside the building on the far most right of the facility. Quietly rolling to a stop, Ultra Magnus killed his lights and sat, motionless for a few moments as his optic scanners looked about the different buildings on the plot, as well as the parking lot. But, as he looked carefully about, he saw nothing. Not one Decepticon or Predacon was standing around in their robot forms, and there certainly weren't any other vehicles nearby either. It confused the motionless car carrier, who checked his radar again, only to find that he was indeed where he needed to be.

"What's going on here?" Ultra Magnus asked himself quietly. "Am I going crazy, or is this radar just broken."

Fortunately for Ultra Magnus, he would soon find that his radar wasn't broken, nor was he going crazy. As the car carrier sat in the dark parking lot, he heard a sound high above him. It was a familiar sound to Ultra Magnus- one of powerful jet engines; jet engines that sounded like they were right above him, high in the sky. Averting his optical scanners up into the sky, Ultra Magnus noticed that the bright moon's light reflected off the edge of what looked to be a jet's wing. With the sound of jet engines getting louder, the sound built to a loud roar, and in an instant, Ultra Magnus observed that there were two jets diving down to the parking, then, just before their nosecones were about to collide with the ground, the two jets twisted, contorted and changed their shapes. Landing feet first on the ground were two giant robots- Decepticons; Decepticons that Ultra Magnus had never seen before.

"Did you check out that great power dive I did?" the black and purple Decepticon jet, Wind Sheer asked proudly. "No other flyer could pull off a finer aerial stunt."

"Yes, it was just fine." Skyfire, the silver and purple Decepticon jet announced, in what seemed like a bored tone. "Now, let's do what we flew here to do. The Eye of Unicron might be inside this Earthern art museum."

"Alright," Wind Sheer complied. "Let's rip the buildings open and see what we got!"

After rubbing his hands together, much like a child with great anticipation on Christmas morning, Wind Sheer began to pace forwards, towards the group of buildings before him. But, before he could walk too far, Skyfire stopped him by placing an arm out, which Wind Sheer walked into, his chest colliding with Skyfire's arm.

"Hold on." Skyfire announced. "There are easier ways to find the Eye. Ways that won't be as much of a drain on our energon, either. I shall scan the building for it."

"You're no fun, Skyfire." Wind Sheer grumbled as Skyfire took his arm away from Wind Sheer's chest.

"I just want to get in and get out." Skyfire informed his wing mate. "The faster we get this done, the faster we succeed in our mission. That's all I'm interested in."

With that, Skyfire's orange optical visor suddenly lit up, illuminating his silver and purple face. Looking away from Wind Sheer, Skyfire began to look at the buildings; his head turned from left to right very slowly as he scanned the several buildings for the object he and Wind Sheer were looking for. His scanning mode allowed him to see through the brick buildings and through any walls and doors inside the buildings, giving him a perfectly see through view of all the object in the buildings. All the objects and outlines of the walls were coloured orange on a dark blue backdrop. Eventually, after scanning the buildings back and fourth several times, Skyfire had his sights fixated on the building to the far right. The building was taller than all the others. Not only that, the building was unique to the others in that it was like a large, silver spire with many twisted, jagged edges. It was as if a giant like Ruination had crushed the walls with his mighty grip.

"That one." Skyfire finally announced, pointing to the strangely shaped building. "The object is in that building, on the fourth floor."

"Great! Then let's rip it out." Wind Sheer cried.

Together, both Skyfire and Wind Sheer walked towards the building. This was observed by Ultra Magnus, who had continued to sit quietly in the dark, in his car carrier form. Fortunately for him, both of the Decepticons had yet to notice his presence in the vicinity. But, they soon would be aware of him.

"I can't let those two goofs get their hands on what they want." Ultra Magnus said softly to himself.

As silently as he could, Ultra Magnus shifted to his robot mode, and as soon as he had transformed, he crouched towards the ground to keep himself as concealed as possible behind the building he was by. Looking towards the two Decepticons, who were getting closer and closer to the strangely shaped building, Ultra Magnus saw that both of the Decepticons had yet to notice him. It was the perfect opportunity to carry out an ambush.

Swiftly, Ultra Magnus rushed out from behind the building, still as quietly as he could to avoid detection. Seeing that Skyfire and Wind Sheer had still yet to notice him, Ultra Magnus raised his firearm, pointing it straight towards the pair. Then, when he was satisfied with his aim, Ultra Magnus tightened his right index finger, where it depressed the trigger of the blue bolts. Following a short click, there was the sharp sound of a laser cannon firing which pierced the air, and a warm, orange coloured beam shot out from Ultra Magnus' cannon. The blast of laser energy shot through the air, flew between the two Decepticons and landed in the asphalt directly in front of them, which resulted in a loud and blinding explosion with enough force to send both Skyfire and Wind Sheer off their feet to land on the ground before the now smoking crater. Stunned and surprised by the explosion, both of the Decepticons then looked over to see Ultra Magnus training his firearm at both of them.

"Ultra Magnus," Skyfire exclaimed. "I did wonder how long it would take for us to encounter you."

"You don't need to wonder anymore then, Decepticon." Ultra Magnus informed the pair. "But, visiting hours for this place are over. Sadly for the both of you, trespassing at night means you have to deal with me."

"Ha, and there I was thinking how boring this was going to be." Wind Sheer joked.

"Surrender!" Ultra Magnus suddenly barked. "I'm giving you both one chance to give yourselves up, come quietly and tell me what you know about the object you're looking for. If you don't, then I'll destroy you both- right here, right now."

"You think you can take us both on?" Wind Sheer grinned, as both he and Skyfire returned to their feet. "Go ahead and try."

"I'll take that answer as a 'no'." Ultra Magnus assumed.

Without another word, or another thought, Ultra Magnus raised his gatling gun towards the two Decepticons, then he opened fire on them. The two Decepticon jets, who had anticipated such a response from Ultra Magnus, immediately sprung to action. The pair ran away from each other in separate directions- Skyfire to Ultra Magnus' left, and Wind Sheer to Ultra Magnus' right; after all, Ultra Magnus wouldn't be able to fire on both of them.

Ultra Magnus however did pick his target, as Ultra Magnus' gun followed Wind Sheer, who was then pelted with bullets from the gatling gun, which stopped the Decepticon in his wide circle of Ultra Magnus and the parking lot. If Ultra Magnus couldn't destroy both of them in one blow, he could make short work of one and then destroy the other. His plan seemed to be working well, as he continued to unload bullets down upon Wind Sheer by the barrel load, until Skyfire made his presence felt as he sprinted towards Ultra Magnus from behind, where he delivered as heavy of a blow to the Autobot's back as he could. The blow from Skyfire was enough that Ultra Magnus stumbled forwards, which incidentally caused his gatling gun to lower, allowing Wind Sheer a respite from the hail of bullet fire he had endured. The blow enraged Ultra Magnus, who then turned around to face Skyfire, but as he did, Ultra Magnus allowed his large left arm to sweep the air with such force that when his forearm collided with Skyfire, the silver Decepticon was sent to the ground in a stunned heap. He looked down towards Skyfire, and satisfied that he had disposed of him momentarily, Ultra Magnus turned his gatling gun back towards the spot he had left the crouching Wind Sheer... But, upon turning around, Ultra Magnus found that Wind Sheer was no longer there.

"_Sheer drop attack!"_

With those words echoing through the parking lot, Ultra Magnus rose his head up towards the sky in surprise. As his sight traveled from the parking lot, up into the night sky, his eyes widened as he saw a large figure dropping from a high altitude right down towards him. It was Wind Sheer, who had since flew high into the sky after Skyfire saved him from Ultra Magnus' fury. Once Wind Sheer had gained enough height, he unleashed what he liked to call his sheer drop attack; this was done by flying high into the sky, then dropping down, fists first down towards his intended target- Ultra Magnus. Before Ultra Magnus was able to react in any way, other than looking up towards Wind Sheer with a look of surprise, the large Autobot felt the full impact of Wind Sheer's fists as they collided with the top of Ultra Magnus' body. By dropping from such a height, and considering Wind Sheer's size, the impact of Wind Sheer was more than powerful enough to cause Ultra Magnus to fall in a heap underneath Wind Sheer, who now stood above Ultra Magnus triumphantly.

"You're no match for me, Autobot." Wind Sheer stated in a cocky fashion, as he placed his hands on his hips. "Got any last words?"

Painfully, Ultra Magnus rolled over from lying flat on his stomach, until he lay on his back. Propping himself up on his elbows, Ultra Magnus let out a small groan as he saw that Wind Sheer stood above him. The Autobot couldn't believe the impact that Wind Sheer had hit him with; it took a lot to even take Ultra Magnus off his feet, let alone take him down and actually hurt him. He checked his internal diagnostics, with the results that returned to Ultra Magnus' computer brain displeasing him. His current physical condition was now at about 50%. If he continued to take such heavy hits from his opponents, it indeed wouldn't be long until Ultra Magnus found himself scrapped by his enemies. He had to do something, and indeed, he had an idea of what he could do- starting with answering Wind Sheer's question.

"I've got just two words." Ultra Magnus groaned up, towards Wind Sheer. _"Ultra Kick!"_

It was now Ultra Magnus' turn to fight back. With his body weight still propped up by his elbows, Ultra Magnus drew his right leg out wide; then, with his leg and hip tight and coiled like a spring, Ultra Magnus swept his right leg across the ground as fast and as hard as he could. With his leg traveling across the ground, his leg then collided with Wind Sheer's ankles with enough force that it immedately forced Wind Sheer's legs out from under him, forcing Wind Sheer to crash down onto the asphalt, much like Ultra Magnus just had. Another grunt left Ultra Magnus, and the Autobot began to rise to his feet, seemingly taking an advantage over Wind Sheer once more, but it was short lived as he then felt an excruciating pain on his upper back. The pain was sharp and tingled violently, as if his back was on fire. The pain forced Ultra Magnus to turn his head to look over his shoulder to see what was causing the pain on his back, where he found, to his horror, that his back was indeed on fire- or rather, under fire. From behind the stream of fire, that was raining down upon Ultra Magnus, Skyfire stood, firing a flamethrower in retaliation to Ultra Magnus' attack.

"Feel the bite of my _Fire Blaster, _Autobot." Skyfire announced without sympathy, as he watched Ultra Magnus begin to buckle under the fury of his attack.

Ultra Magnus growled, in pain and frustration as the fire continued to rain down onto his back. He tried to move, to get out of the way, or do something else to get himself out of the predicament he found himself in, but even if it seemed unfathomable, Ultra Magnus found himself pinned down underneath the weight of the flames that continued to lick his back. Seconds passed, and with every second, Ultra Magnus found himself succumbing to the fire. He dropped to a knee, then to another one. Ultra Magnus hissed, and attempted to force himself back up onto his feet, but he found he simply couldn't. Instead, he was then forced down onto his hands and knees. His armour had since began to melt underneath the flames, forcing more pain to course through the large Autobot's body. Ultra Magnus began to feel dizzy and helpless- feelings that Ultra Magnus was not used to feeling, for the strong Autobot was usually able to overcome such odds. But now, as he found himself on his hands and knees from a fight against two Decepticons, Ultra Magnus realized that his shortfall came from refusing to take all the time he needed in his repair chamber. He entered the fight below peak condition to go into a fight with a pair of Decepticons as vicious as Skyfire and Wind Sheer, and now he was paying the price. It was then, finally, that Skyfire switched off his flamethrower, where Ultra Magnus, in reaction, simply collapsed to the ground, nearly unconscious.

"Enough of this trivial garbage." Skyfire grunted. "Wind Sheer, make sure he stays down. I shall find what we came here for."

"You got it."

Skyfire watched Wind Sheer for a few moments, who finally rose back to his feet, where he then walked over to Ultra Magnus and placed his foot down onto the back of Ultra Magnus' neck. Looking at Wind Sheer's stance, Skyfire could see that his wing mate was placing as much of his weight as he possibly could down onto Ultra Magnus' neck. With his neck pinned down towards the ground, there was no way Ultra Magnus was going to be able to get back up- not that Skyfire really thought Ultra Magnus could get back up. The amount of damage to Ultra Magnus from his own flamethrower was enough for Skyfire to figure that Ultra Magnus was at least, for now, disabled.

Satisfied, Skyfire took a stroll across the parking lot, past Wind Sheer, and the pinned down Ultra Magnus, stopping only when he found himself standing before the strange looking building where the object, which they believed to be the Eye of Unicron was kept. Due to his own height, in comparison to the building, Skyfire found himself looking down towards the fourth floor. He rose his right hand, then quickly, and without a second thought, Skyfire allowed his right hand to crash through the metal and glass of the building work. With an ear splitting crash, shards of glass, and twisted pieces of metal began to rain down to the ground, which would be hazardous if a human was standing on the ground below. Despite that however, to Skyfire, crashing his hand through the side of the building was like a human hand tearing through a piece of paper. After a few moments of fumbling around, Skyfire found the object he was looking for. He withdrew his arm from the cover of the rest of the building, then Skyfire took a step back to see what he had in his palm. Large enough to fill the entirety of Skyfire's silver palm, the object was a large, golden sphere, with a purple oval jewel sitting in the center of the sphere.

"Is that it?" Wind Sheer asked, as he noticed Skyfire holding the golden object. "Is it the Eye?"

"...No." Skyfire announced, his voice with a hint of disappointment. "A scan of it shows that this object is nothing but metal with a stone in it. There is no energy feedback coming from it that I was told should emanate from the jewel. It is useless!"

In frustration, Skyfire tossed the golden sphere to the ground. He was frustrated that his and Wind Sheer's efforts were for nothing. That had not only traveled many miles to get to the facility, but they had to exert themselves to best Ultra Magnus before they were able to even get to the object- which they found was merely another trinket, and not the coveted Eye of Unicron that they sought.

"Hey, it's not a complete loss." Wind Sheer then shrugged. "We got to stretch our wings some. Not only that, we've got ourselves a fallen Autobot general here. What say we take the head off him, and take it back to Obsidian?"

"Why not?" Skyfire asked, upon a moment's thought. "There's no point going back to our commander empty handed. The head of Prime's brother would be of some worth to our superiors."

"Great." Wind Sheer grinned. "Let's perform some surgery..."

Saying nothing else, Wind Sheer took his foot from the back of Ultra Magnus' neck, then he aimed his right foot down towards Ultra Magnus' torso. With a violent kick, Wind Sheer forced Ultra Magnus to roll from his front, so that he now lay on his back. Ultra Magnus groaned, but a quick look at his yellow eyes showed that he was barely functional. All his energy had been depleted; his physical condition was now below par. It was only a matter of time before he perished naturally, but the two Decepticon jets were eagerly about speed up the process...Taking his energon sword from his back, Wind Sheer lowered down towards the prone Ultra Magnus, along with Skyfire, who now held Ultra Magnus' head still. With the blade of Wind Sheer's sword now glowing a bright red, Wind Sheer raised the sword over Ultra Magnus' neck and prepared to slash the sword down into a devastating blow...but then, he stopped.

"What's that?" Skyfire asked in surprise.

Looking across the parking lot, both Skyfire and Wind Sheer were shocked to see a bright white light flash from thin air. The bright white light suddenly formed a large oval shape only a few feet above the ground. Inside the white oval, there was a green colour, and among the green light, white swirls flowed through it. In this strange light, a large silhouette appeared, and with the seconds that passed, the shadow became larger, and larger still, until, Skyfire and Wind Sheer were both surprised to see the visage of an Autobot rush out from the strange light, a pair of large laser weapons bared, and ready for action. It was King Atlas, emerging from the newly reactivated Global Space Bridge.

"_Twin Gyro Cannons!"_

Immediately, powerful bolts of laser fire began to fly from King Atlas' laser weapons. The laser fire began to pelt the ground around the two Decepticon jets, who felt an extreme sense of urgency as King Atlas rushed towards them.

"Another Autobot!" Wind Sheer cried. "What do we do?"

"Retreat." Skyfire stated simply. _"Transform!"_

Quickly, the two Decepticon jets leaped from the ground beside Ultra Magnus, into the air, where the pair quickly transformed to their jet modes. The silver Rafale jet and the black F-22 Raptor then soared high into the sky, propelled by their powerful jet engines. Still under the pressure of the laser fire from King Atlas, that continued to shoot towards them, the two Decepticon jets wasted no time in disappearing into the dark night sky, leaving the city of Mito as quickly as they had arrived.

Seeing that Skyfire and Wind Sheer had retreated, King Atlas lowered his gyro cannons and stood, motionless for a few moments. He allowed the silence and tranquility of the night to bring some peace back to the parking lot, which had since been turned into a violent battle ground, then satisfied that the Decepticon jets wouldn't be coming back, King Atlas rushed over to Ultra Magnus. After holstering his cannons onto his back, King Atlas lowered to a knee and quickly inspected Ultra Magnus. Though he was no medic, it was obvious that Ultra Magnus didn't have much time left, if his wounds weren't addressed immediately. With that in mind, King Atlas activated his radio.

"_T-AI, this is King Atlas. Activate the Global Space Bridge, and prep a repair chamber immediately. I have found Ultra Magnus. He is in a critical condition..."_


End file.
